Winning when no one expects it is fun. Winning when you are supposed to win is hard.

[Speedy Thomas]

(04-25-2022, 01:32 PM)Housh Wrote: Next season is going to be brutal for the board regulars. Most of us are realistic, intelligent posters. A lot  of us are old enough to have been around for teams that were supposed to be great such as the 2012 and 2006 teams. A lot of the younger and newer posters will be insufferable next year due to the winning expectations the media, coaches abs fans will put on us.

Winning anxiety will sweep this board and the locker room. One reason i respect LeBron so much is he is ALWAYS expected to be a title favorite and he still comes to work and plays without fear. Expectation is a scary thing. How many times have you done something a million times and messed up when people were finally there to watch you? How many times have you lifted a certain weight at the gym then failed when it was time to set a new PR? I am very excited to see how Zac Taylor and Joe Burrow handle this phenomenon.

Winning anxiety utterly destroyed Baker Mayfield. He went crazy his rookie year and the second the Browns were penciled in to be perennial playoff contenders he turned to shit. This roster has the potential to be the next 10 year franchise that seems to always be good like the Packers with ARod and New England with Brady. But we could just as easily become the Phillip Rivers Chargers.


Either way next season is gonna be fun and exhausting

First of all, Housh, I'm not sure that 477 posts qualify me as a regular.  But if you're talking about me when you say realistic and intelligent -- why, thank you.

I'm well into my senior years and have been a Bengal fan since the beginning.  Super Bowls of the 80's a hazy memory.  The Marvin years had their moments, but man, the frustration.  Carson's knee.  Hill's fumble.  Walking up Elm Street after yet another playoff heartbreak.  

The disaster of 2019, then Burrow's knee in 2020, left me wondering if the Bengals would even be relevant again in my lifetime.  Then came last year.  Magic.  My all-time favorite Bengals team.

Everything you say is true.  It is going to be harder this year.  But by God, we are the defending AFC champions.  I've heard a lot of noise about other AFC teams this off-season.  But if they want it, they are going to have to take it from us.

It's setting up to be another great season.  Enjoy it.