Bass: Is Bengals’ first blowout win a trick or a treat?

Halloween came eight days early to the house on 1 Paul Brown Stadium. It was like filling your bag early and often with enough Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups and Snickers to satisfy you until the Bengals trick or treat in Cleveland.

You got your blowout victory, Bengals fans.

“Needed a win like that,” a friend texted, “instead of the new ‘Cardiac Kids.’ ”

Routs can get a bad reputation. A good one can be soothing, reassuring, uplifting. Some of you appreciated it, judging from our weekly day-after-game Twitter session, when I asked how blowing out the Falcons on Sunday affected you.

@SettersNick08: “It didn't take hours off my life, it was smooth sailing. Finally a non stressful game!”

@CoachKnox17: “In a word: comforting. Both sides of the ball gave us as fans reason to feel confident in our team and where their general direction is headed. I think it's hard to envision the AFC playoff race without the Bengals being a player in it at this point.”

@Bengaljims_BTR: “Felt good not to stress late in game,”

“Felt very confident … same feel I had at Lions game last year.”

Some of you were not so taken by this.

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Some of you presumed more of this.

Some of you are haunted by your expectations.

* * * * *

Generally speaking . . .

If a lopsided win moves you less than a dramatic one – and if neither impacts you like a loss – you are not alone.

In 1994, Daniel L. Wann and other researchers studied how an easy victory, a tough win and a loss affects fans, compared to how they felt pregame, positively and negatively, toward their home team.

On the positive end?

“The results revealed that spectators experienced a small increase in positive affect after the easy win, a large increase in response to the difficult win, and a sharp reduction in positive affect following the loss,” Wann and co-author Jeffrey D. Jones wrote in the 2019 book, “Sports Fans: The Psychology and Social Impact of Fandom.”

As for the negative side?

An easy win brought a “slight” drop, a difficult win brought “a bit larger drop” and a loss brought a “sizeable increase.”

All the patterns magnified for the more invested fans. It makes sense. Those fans feel wins and losses more intensely. Positives and negatives are more ingrained.

Specifically speaking . . .

That might be part of why the Bengals routing Atlanta didn’t affect some of you that much, if at all.

@Double_A_WhoDey: “Hot and cold. Hot cause heck yeah!! Cold cause this team is a special teams injury & two late FGs away from being 7-0. All of which could’ve been avoided had the offense came out firing on all cylinders like yesterday and last week.”

@Mes9231979: “Feeling good but it was against a weak secondary so cautiously optimistic.”

@RealMcCoy1983: “It didn’t. We are/were the superior team & took advantage of their injured/nonexistent secondary. Regardless, it showed again that our OL still needs improvement & we need a legit RB2/RB1b/Scatback & TE2/HB [maybe these can be addressed before next week’s trade deadline?].”

@Knopftj13: “It didnt. Expected it, we should do that to those type of teams ... on to Cleveland.”

You clearly are not looking at this rout in a vacuum.

Bengals blow out FalconsJoe Burrow and Ja'Marr Chase flex their muscles in Bengals' blowout win over the Falcons

Are you so entrenched in your presumptions about The Season of High Expectations that you are denying yourself this moment?

Is this a good rout spoiled?

* * * * *

Generally speaking ...

If you are not all that into a team, you might be as happy recalling or imagining a “boring win” as an “exciting loss,” said a 2017 study by Wonseok (Eric) Jang and others.

If you highly identify with your team, the study added, you are far more likely to be happier with a “boring win.” That means “your favorite team” was “dominant” from start to finish, and though you “did not enjoy the process” of a game neither “exciting” nor “suspenseful,” you were “satisfied with the result” of winning by a “huge margin.”

Specifically speaking . . .

You might not see every rout as boring. Context matters.

Did you “enjoy the process” in 1989 when Bengals coach Sam Wyche ran up the score – calling for an onside kick while up 45-0, and for a field goal in the final seconds – to win 61-7 and stick it to Houston Oilers nemesis Jerry Glanville? Wyche sure enjoyed it. Boring, it was not.

Sure, if a blowout feels routine and becomes expected, anything less seems disappointing. Think Alabama or Ohio State against most comers. But the Bengals were rout-less until Sunday. You endured a season filled with anxiety. The Bengals lost three dramatic games before finally winning one last week, and you needed a break. You craved a breakthrough win. You got it.

Which explains @JungleRat7 tweeting a GIF of water gushing through a dam. The Bengals were in flow.

Were you?

@Pfunk1323: “Sweet satisfaction to watch them play that way.”

@RobynFryer4: “Was at that game it was amazing.”

@OutoftheParkcom: “We are who we thought we are…finally.”

@SpencerKramer9: “Made me finally feel like we have our heads back on.”

@BrianSexton13: “Fantastic win. Keep it rolling.”

@Tarynsterrell: “Huge confidence builder for the team and its fans. Perfect time to gain momentum 🔥.”

@BengalsCaptain: “It's validation that we were correct to have hope, that we did see what we thought we saw in front of us, and that the team has everything in front of them. Bonus that we were all able to have so much fun celebrating together!”

Why does a statement performance have to be boring?

* * * * *

It was 35-17 in the third quarter. The rout was on. The scoring was done. Your heart rate and enthusiasm dipped. Maybe you diminished the win, badmouthed the Falcons. Blowouts can play with your thoughts and feelings.

Maybe you ripped the Bengals for not playing like this all along. Expectations also can toy with your head and heart.

Think about the message you are sending yourself.

Two teams entered with an eerily identical path to 3-3, and the Bengals won by landslide. What if you focus on that? Or at least credit the Bengals for acting like a Super Bowl contender against what you consider a lesser opponent?

You can embrace seeing the Bengals coalesce on this day, in this way. Does it serve you to look the other way? Where others see new peanut butter cups, you see old circus peanuts. Why not take another look in your bag?

Let yourself be happy. Joe Burrow and the passing game were brilliant again. The defense has not allowed a second-half touchdown all season. After spotting the NFL two games, the Bengals have won two straight and four of five. They are over .500 and tied for first.

Halloween Night Football awaits Monday in Cleveland.

Until then, why not feed off the rout?

@JoJoBean606: “Best game of the season!! The video of the locker room after the game really showed that this team supports each other’s greatness!! They played like a Team!! Let’s keep rolling!!!”

@SomedaySooon: “Made me so happy! ❤️🐯.  🌷🌹🌷🌹🌷🌹 to Joey B.”

@JNJournalist: “It was a good Dey! 🐯”

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Mike Bass column on Bengals victory over the Atlanta Falcons