Tuesday, January 10, 2006

2005 Cincinnati Bengals R.I.P.: 9.11.05 - 1.08.06

It was a heck of a season, but sadly all good things must come to an end - and what a sad end it was. In the second play of the Bengals first playoff game in 15 years, star quarterback and arguable team leader, Carson Palmer suffered a devastating injury that pretty much knocked the wind out of the rest of the team. Palmer had just thrown an incredible 66 yard completion to rookie receiver Chris Henry - who would also succumb to injury a little later in the game. (Palmer had also just signed a multi-year, multi-million dollar contract a few days earlier.) Enter veteran second string quarter back John Kitna who did his best to rally the team to a halftime lead.

While my hat is off to Kitna and the rest of the team for a resilient first half, the Bengals pretty much folded in the second half and handed the Steelers the victory. Watching those final two quarters made me think I was watching a traditional Bengals team, instead of this year's squad. And while I enjoyed this year's season immensely, I was pretty confident that the Bengals weren't going to go all the way. There were just too many games that the team didn't play well. That said, as long as Palmer is back next year, 2006 could be the year ...

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

You sound like a Red Sox fan ... there's always next year!