The real reasons the Bengals will beat the Steelers

[Shake n Blake]

John Breech of CBSsports.com seems to think the Bengals pull off the upset, although I think he just picked Bengals because his dad is being honored at halftime (I never realized he was Jim's son until reading this article:

https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/nfl-week-13-picks-saints-beat-panthers-in-nfc-showdown-bengals-shock-steelers/

Quote:My entire family lives in Cincinnati, which I'm only telling you because I'll be visiting them this week. Also, I'll be at this game Monday night, mainly because I've always wanted to witness an Andy Dalton prime-time meltdown in person.

Actually, the real reason I'm attending this game is because my dad is one of several former Bengals players being honored at halftime and I would be the worst son ever if I didn't go.

During the offseason, he was voted the fifth-best Bengals player of all-time, which is a victory for kickers everywhere because kickers never get voted into the top five of anything. I could probably write an entire book about his NFL career, but since I don't have that kind of space here, I'll just briefly mention Super Bowl XXIII.

If you've ever seen any highlights from Super Bowl XXIII, one of those highlights was probably Joe Montana throwing the winning touchdown to John Taylor with 34 seconds left to play that put the 49ers on top 20-16. What most people don't know is that if Montana had failed on that drive, my dad likely would've been voted Super Bowl MVP and I likely would've turned out more insufferable than I already am. He scored 10 of the Bengals' 16 points in the game and the only points he didn't score came on a kickoff return for a touchdown. The Bengals' offense sputtered and the defense surrendered more than 400 yards.

Basically, the stars perfectly aligned for a kicker to possibly win the MVP. Just ask Boomer Esiason. The 1988 NFL MVP, who was the Bengals' quarterback in the game, says it was pretty clear who would've won the MVP if the Bengals had won.

The Bengals didn't win, though.

Although he has been retired since 1992, my dad does still hold one NFL record: Most overtime field goals without a miss.
By the way, if you want to know how long it has been since the Bengals won a playoff game, my dad was the last Bengals player to score a point in a Bengals playoff victory. Again, he hasn't played since 1992.

As for that Dalton prime-time meltdown, I actually don't think it's going to happen. Believe it or not, Dalton is actually the only starting quarterback who hasn't thrown an interception since Week 8. In that span, he has thrown for nine touchdowns and zero interceptions, which are numbers I didn't believe until I looked them up, and even after looking them up, I still didn't believe them.

Since I don't want my family to disown me and I want to make it out of Cincinnati alive, I'm taking the Bengals, and because I just spent 150 words writing about a kicker, I'm going to say they win by a field goal.

The pick: Bengals 23-20 over Steelers