Editorial: Nation is hearing the Bengals loud and clear

No need to pinch yourselves, Bengals fans. This team is for real.

Just two years ago, the Cincinnati Bengals were historically bad, losing their first 11 games on the way to an NFL worst of two wins. Now the team is as many wins away from making history again. Only this time it won't be to mark the franchise's futility, but its supremacy.

Regardless of what happens Sunday in the AFC Championship game, Bengals fans will remember 2021 as the expectation-defying, culture-changing, corner-turning season that it has been. Few people outside of the Bengals organization expected this team to contend for a championship a year after its franchise quarterback suffered a season-ending knee injury.

They had the third-worst odds of winning the Super Bowl entering the season at +15000 (meaning if you bet $10 on the Bengals, you could win $1,500), according to Tipico Sportsbook. Only the 1999 St. Louis Rams won a Super Bowl as such a longshot. And at +800, the Bengals have the worst odds of the four remaining playoff teams. The Bengals have been underdogs all year, including this week against the Kansas City Chiefs who are a touchdown favorite.

But Joe Burrow has been determined to change that narrative since being drafted No. 1 overall by the Bengals in 2020. Coming into the playoffs, the mantra among Bengals fans when talking about the possibility of winning it all was "Why not us?" But Burrow rejected that notion, instead declaring, "It is us."

"I'm tired of the underdog narrative," Burrow said after the Bengals stunned the top-seeded Tennessee Titans in the AFC Divisional round. "We're a really, really good team. We're here to make noise."

Indeed, the Bengals have been growling. And perhaps for the first time since Ickey Woods shuffled this franchise all the way to Super Bowl XXIII, the NFL and the nation are hearing the Bengals loud and clear.

There are plenty of accolades to hand out for this rags-to-riches turnaround, but we must start with the quarterback. Burrow is a generational talent whose competitiveness, toughness, poise and swagger have taken this team from punchlines to headlines. His boyish looks, which have drawn comparisons to Macaulay Culkin of the movie "Home Alone," belie his killer instinct, "Joe Cool" demeanor and clutch gene.

St. Joe, as The Enquirer's Paul Daugherty calls him, has helped to exorcise historical demons such as a 31-year playoff drought and getting the franchise's first-ever road playoff win. And he has a chance to slay the biggest demon of them all by winning the next two games and bringing this city its first major sports championship since 1990. Burrow has restored hope and faith – for fans and pundits alike – in this organization and is making Bengalmania a nationwide phenomenon.

Next, let's give head coach Zac Taylor and the Bengals' much-maligned front office some credit too. Taylor, who many felt was coaching for his job this year, got a vote of confidence early on from team owner Mike Brown. The organization stuck by Taylor after producing just six wins in his first two years (a rarity in today's win-now NFL) and that patience and loyalty is now paying dividends.

When the Bengals fired Marvin Lewis after 16 seasons, The Enquirer editorialized that the Brown brain trust needed to hit a bullseye in hiring his replacement. We said they needed to hire someone players would respect, who could instill discipline, knows how to put points on the board in the high-flying NFL of today and who can win playoff games and championships. Despite a rough start, Taylor has checked off most of those boxes. He seems to have the respect of his players, the Bengals were the second-least penalized team this season and scored 27.1 points per game, good for eighth-highest in the NFL. Taylor has already doubled his win total from his first two years, has the Bengals in the playoffs for the first time since 2015 and is one win away from a conference championship and Super Bowl appearance.

Give the front office kudos too for being bold enough to select wide receiver Ja'Marr Chase with the No. 5 overall pick in last year's draft when practically every analyst and pundit thought they should take an offensive lineman. Reuniting Burrow with his LSU teammate was a game-changer, and Chase – also a generational talent – has proven week in and week out that the Bengals got it right on draft day.

Lastly, the Bengals organization is finally showing more love to fans. Installing a ring of honor at Paul Brown Stadium was a welcome, if not long overdue, addition. And Taylor showing up to local bars with game balls he gifted to fans after huge playoff wins is the kind of act that can endear a coach and his team to a community. It says they appreciate the fans sticking by them through losing seasons and all the time and money fans spend cheering them on. It says, "We care."

No matter what happens Sunday this season marks a turning point for the Bengals. This young, talented team should be a championship contender for years to come. Or in the words of our cigar-smoking, sunglasses-wearing, locker room-dancing quarterback, when it comes to winning, "get used to it." It's a New Dey, indeed.

Here's hoping that Burrow and the Bengals get to light up those victory stogies on Feb. 13. But first things first – on to Kansas City. Who Dey, and go Bengals!

Opinion Editor Kevin S. Aldridge writes this on behalf of the editorial board, which includes Executive Editor Beryl Love and Editorial Board members Christine Marallen and Gil Spencer.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Editorial: Nation is hearing the Bengals loud and clear