Three years between visits to SoFi Stadium finds Cincinnati Bengals fans wondering what the heck happened.
By Dr. John Huang
(INGLEWOOD, Ca.) – Three years ago, I stood in awe at the grandiose gates of SoFi Stadium, ready to witness the Cincinnati Bengals take on the Los Angeles Rams in Super Bowl LVI. The Southern California air was thick with optimism that day, and the possibilities seemed endless. Joe Burrow was young, Zac Taylor’s schemes were fresh, and the team felt like a project on the cusp of greatness. I thought, surely—Marvin Lewis be damned—this is the beginning of a golden age.
Spoiler alert: it wasn’t.
That day, the Bengals lost in heartbreaking fashion. Little did we know at the time that it would be all downhill from there. The 34 – 27 last-minute loss today at the hands of the Chargers punching us in the face with finality.
After that magical Super Bowl run, the franchise tauntingly teased us with one more promising season before the usual litany of injuries, contract squabbles, and boneheaded mistakes left us muttering under our collective breaths. But as Bengals fans, we were understandably hooked from the get-go. Something about watching our hometown heroes battling chaos made us feel alive. Plus, small morsels of hope following years of futility became a powerful drug, and the Bengals became our perfect dealer.
Despite the disappointment of missing the playoffs last year, we kept on dreaming. After all, the Bungles were a thing of the past, were they not? We weren’t just hopefuls anymore; we were alleged bona fide contenders. Every week remained a pulse-pounding drama, complete with Burrow’s icy stare and Ja’Marr Chase doing superhuman things.
The Chargers game today followed that similar script. Cincinnati fell behind early playing as if they had overslept. They then mounted a terrific second-half comeback, missing two go-ahead field goal attempts, and then falling just short at the final horn. Welcome to our world.
“Every game we lose comes down to the last play of the game,” head coach Zac Taylor said, accentuating the obvious. “We just got to find a way to win these and generate some momentum for ourselves…It’s sick that the way these games are ending, the way that we feel coming off the field every week.”
Then change it, Coach. Where’s the outrage? Where’s the sense of desperation that should have been there since the team started 0 – 3?
“We still have the same mentality,” Taylor said, doubling down. “We’re just taking it one game at a time. That’s the way this league works. We’ve got a lot of experience doing it this way. We just focus one game at a time, we find that win, and the next thing you know you can catch some momentum, and the teams got confidence, and people rally behind you, and you can still have a pretty special season.”
What Taylor failed to take into account was that as a Bengals fan, you’re never too far from heartbreak. Like Charlie Brown trying to kick Lucy’s football, we know the sting of having hope yanked away at the last second. That was certainly true this year. It seemed every game was a constant rerun of woulda, coulda, shoulda.
Fast forward to today, and here we are—out of the playoff hunt before Thanksgiving. The optimism of SoFi feels like a distant memory, and the magic of the Super Bowl run has been replaced by the cold reality of inconsistency. Injuries, questionable coaching decisions, and the occasional defensive collapse have turned this season into a cautionary tale.
The loss to the Chargers this week felt like a gut punch. We’ve gone from Super Bowl hopefuls to maybe next year faster than you can say “Who Dey.” And yet, Bengals fans, loyal to a fault, just keep showing up, week after week, waiting for the next miracle.
Why? Because that’s what being a fan is all about. It’s about weathering the highs and lows, reveling in the absurdity, and holding onto hope—even when logic tells you not to. The Bengals may be out of the playoff race, but they’re only a Ticketmaster dial up from sucking us all back in again.
“We always appreciate the fans,” Burrow said, when asked for any words of encouragement he might give to the frustrated fan base. “They’re a big part of what we do. Always appreciate the support. Hopefully we can come back from the bye and get a win at home.”
If there’s one thing I’ve learned since my last visit to SoFi it’s that the NFL is indeed a week-to-week league. On any given Sunday, it just might be “Who Dey” all over again.
Just not this year.
Dr. John Huang is a retired orthodontist, military veteran, and award-winning author. He covers the Bengals for Sports View America. Follow him on social media @KYHuangs and check out his debut novel, “Name, Image, and Murder,” and all his books at Amazon.
