Bengal Nation Daily's first history lesson

Well folks, after a couple of days recuperating mentally from Sunday's beatdown and incessant mocking from my Brown and Steeler fan friends here in Northeast Ohio, I'm back in action here at BND.

Do you think there's any possibility that our Bengals will play as lousy Sunday as they did last weekend, readers?

I would love to say I don't think the possibility exists, but I simply cannot say that with any confidence at this point, and this is why. What we saw Sunday was not a one-time occurrence. It was the end result of the 2006 and 2007 regular seasons and the 2008 preseason, which of course "doesn't matter."

Was anyone surprised at the lackluster effort that we saw out of the offensive line Sunday afternoon? Did any of you not see that coming? For the past two years the Bengals' offensive line has been progressively eroding and no longer even resembles the dominating line of 2005. This all began with the decision to let Eric Steinbach drive up I-71 and join the division rival Cleveland Browns, as I've written on this page several times.

Let's have a little history lesson, shall we?

In the eighties, the Bengals were one of the league's proud, at times dominant football teams. Twice in that decade our boys went to the big dance. Twice they absolutely should have won that game, but that is a different discussion.

Of note is the left side of the offensive line, where Hall-of-Fame tackle Anthony Munoz locked down the left tackle spot as arguably the greatest offensive lineman of all time. Lining up next to him was left guard Max Montoya, from 1979 to 1989. Montoya was allowed to leave for Oakland at the end of the 1989-1990 8-8 season, one year after their loss to the 49'ers in Super Bowl XXIII. That began the decline of the Bengals' offensive line that was part of the epic mockery that took the field each Sunday through the 1990's and the early 2000's.

Max Montoya wore jersey number 65.

No chance you see where I'm going with this, right?

Flash forward to 2006. One year removed from a Division Title and a playoff berth that ended with the team collapsing at halftime when the severity of Carson Palmer's left knee injury was realized and Chad Johnson went UFC in the training room, the Bengals had not one, not two, but three chances at the end of the season to secure another playoff spot. If the stars aligned and the Bengals won any one of their final three games, they would have been a playoff team for the second consecutive year. What was the end result? A botched hold in Denver and a missed field goal at home that ended with Pittsburgh's Santonio Holmes streaking into the end zone, starting the Bengals' offseason in heartbreak.

In the offseason between the 2006 and 2007 season, as a result of the choice that was made by the Bengals' front office to extend Willie Anderson's contract amid valid health concerns about the player, starting left guard Eric Steinbach was allowed to pursue free agency. The club refused to pay him "tackle money." Never mind that long-time starting center Rich Braham had been lost to injury since week 2 of that season, and Steinbach had long since proven himself a talented center. The man could play tackle, guard or center well enough to start for most teams in the league. Steinbach promptly signed with the Cleveland Browns on the first day of free agency that offseason.

That kind of versatility was let go in favor of paying for past performance and "loyalty" to a player who was unceremoniously released eight days before the 2008 season commenced and is now in the employ of yet another division rival, leaving us with Eric Ghiaciuc as the starting center of the Cincinnati Bengals. When not being driven three or four yards into the backfield or being picked up and carried into the backfield, Ghiaciuc does a fine job, let me tell you.

If you find yourself having a hard time believing that I'm praising Eric Ghiaciuc in that last sentence, place your hand on the power switch of your sarcasm meter and turn it to the "on" position.

Oh, by the way? Eric Steinbach wore jersey number 65. This, my friends, is poetic symmetry at its best.

In a Bengal Nation Daily entry from August 19th of this year, I said "I hope you all enjoyed the nineties, because we're staring them right in the face again."

After watching the mess we saw Sunday, I saw nothing to change my tune, did you?

Perhaps the boys in stripes can come out Sunday and beat a potentially Haynesworth-less Titans team at Paul Brown Stadium for their home opener. Don't fault me for my expectations that this will not be the case. Mike Brown has brought this club full circle, and made the same mistake with Steinbach's release that he made by letting Montoya walk without an adequate replacement.

The smart money says we're seeing the beginning of the same results. Maybe they can prove me wrong on Sunday, but I'm not holding my breath.

Sincerely,

A Pragmatic Bengals Fan