By Dylan Paulson, Staff Writer

With a season record at 0-3, things seemed bleak for the Cincinnati Bengals. Losses to the New England Patriots, the Kansas City Chiefs and the Washington Commanders left much of the fanbase bitter, pessimistic and wondering what was going wrong for a team with Super Bowl aspirations at the beginning of the season. 

A game against the Carolina Panthers was just what the “Who Dey” nation needed. A loss to the Panthers would have signaled doom for the rest of the year. A game that should have been stress-free and an opportunity for a restful Sunday, rapidly became one of the most blood pressure raising matchups of the early football season. 

Fortunately, the Bengals escaped with a 34-24 win. At 1-3, perhaps not all was lost. Going into a matchup against the absolute juggernaut of a team that is the Baltimore Ravens meant a win would surely put the season back on track. They lost. Whoops. 

However, there was something different about this game. Instead of total team-wide incompetence that brought the losses in the first three games, this one came down to punter Ryan Rehkow being unable to hold a kick properly. Victory was so close, and one very unfortunate slip-up cost the Bengals the whole game. This time, defeat didn’t fill fans with pessimism. No – this time, the loss filled fans with something different: rage and a hunger to prove that the Bengals were better than their 1-4 record. 

Moving forward to their next game against the New York Giants, it felt very similar to Carolina in terms of the skills and records of the teams, but this game had a completely different vibe. The Bengals managed a 17-7 victory, but this felt less like an escape and more like bringing the theoretical losing streak to a screeching halt. Now with a record of 2-4, fresh off a win against a bottom-feeding team, they moved onto a divisional game against the Cleveland Browns. 

Cleveland is the only team that the “Who Dey” nation loathes more than their black-and-gold rivals to the east. A loss to Cleveland wouldn’t just have put them at 2-5 and the bottom of the division, it would, simply put, have made them a worse team than Cleveland. 

So into the dog pound the Bengals went with high hopes. On the opening kickoff, Cincinnati’s newest folk hero, wide receiver Charlie Jones, ran the ball 100 yards into the endzone to take a 7-0 lead. Quarterback Joe Burrow didn’t even need to walk onto the field. Of course, he eventually did, and while the game only boasted a 21-14 win for the Bengals, this game was less about the score and more about the principle of beating Cleveland. 

In a year when the Bengals can’t seem to find any form of identity and can’t seem to get out of their own way. In a season when calls to fire head coach Zac Taylor grow louder by the day and with all of the trials and tribulations they have faced, the Bengals are still better than Cleveland. And at 3-4, maybe this was it and the season was on the up. 

A Sunday night thriller made Bengals fans think for just a moment that perhaps they would be able to catch the Pittsburgh Steelers. Russel Wilson ended any dreams of catching the black and gold that week, but the thoughts were there. 

Maybe the Bengals could catch Pittsburgh. If so, they could catch Baltimore. If they could catch Baltimore, they could have the potential to win the division. There’s still a lot of football left. Maybe this season could still be salvaged. Maybe the playoffs aren’t such a far-fetched dream. Maybe the Super Bowl- wait, what? They lost to the Philadelphia Eagles? The Bengals are now 3-5? Oh. Whoops. Surely, this won’t lead to another losing streak…