Best Bengals team of all time

[Bengalbug]

(10-19-2023, 12:52 AM)BRM13 Wrote: I actually considered that team.  Barely lost on the road in a shootout in Oakland.  Only 4 teams got in back then.  The Superbowl was a real possibility.  This was the first wave of the 'West Coast' offense in the NFL.  

Amazing note.  In a 15 year span the Bengals introduced the West Coast offense, the No Huddle offense, and the Zone Blitz defense.  This franchise has been far more successful and interesting than younger fans know.   The likely reason the early Bengals get no respect is 1) no Super Bowl trophies and especially 2) the reign of error under Mike Brown.  All those game changing innovations occurred while Paul Brown was still alive.

I’m too young to remember much before the mid 90s (akili, kijana, etc). The first taste of a great team was 2005 and I remember what section I was in on the deep bomb to Henry.

It took a decade later to have that same feeling again, and lo and behold it was the Steelers again when dalton went for a tackle after a pick.

I think the 05 team had a better chance as we caught the league by storm that year, but going through colts/patriots would have been tough.. however Palmer was an assassin that year.

2021 was a similar feeling to 05, in that we caught the league by storm.. but felt like the OL was always going to catch up, and it did.

2022 felt better as we returned all our pieces, and invested somewhat heavily in the OL. Had we not had injuries to the OL late, we make back to back SBs, but not sure we beat the eagles.