Being a Steeler fan & resident of the Cincinnati area comes with built-in tension at least a twice a year: Steelers vs. Bengals football games. This year's first meeting occurs this Sunday at 1pm, a mile and a half from my house at Paul Brown Stadium.
I've lived in this area for 11 years now and have noticed a common misconception among Bengal fans: most think the Steelers/Bengals rivalry is fairly evenly split with each getting the better of the other about half the time. Allow me to provide some details of recent history to clear up these errant thoughts. Against the Bengals the Steelers have won:
- 3 in a row
- 4 of the last 5
- 7 of the last 9
- 10 of the last 13
- 13 of the last 17, netting the Steelers a .765 winning percentage vs. the Bengals this century (note: for the sake of perspective, a .765 winning % applied to a 16-game season equates to just over 12 wins per year).
Taking this analysis even further, the Steelers are 26-9 (.743 winning percentage) vs. the Bengals going back to the start of the 1991 season. Why did I choose the start of the '91 season? That was the season after the last time the Bengals won a playoff game. During those 17 seasons without a Bengal playoff win, the Steelers have produced:
- a 166-105-1 record (.610 winning percentage, just under 10 wins per season)
- 12 winning seasons
- 11 playoff appearances
- 9 division titles
- 2 conference titles
- 1 Super Bowl victory
That last Bengal playoff win at the end of the 1990 season was a 41-14 rout (way to go, Bengals!) of the Houston Oilers on January 5, 1991, at Riverfront Stadium. The Bengals lost in the next round of the playoffs to the Los Angeles Raiders. Raider running back, Bo Jackson (my childhood hero), suffered a football career-ended injury during the game. So is this 17-year Bengal debacle some sort of Bo Jackson jinx? Anyway, you know you're going back a ways to find a playoff win when things like Riverfront Stadium, the Oilers, pro football in Los Angeles, and Bo Jackson come up.
On that note, let's take a look at what was going on in the world on January 5, 1991:
- #1 Song in USA: "Love Will Never Do (Without You)" by Janet Jackson
- #1 Movie in USA: Home Alone
- Operation Desert Storm would begin 11 days later
Enjoy the game!
P.S.: Appropriate comeback to use against me would probably be: "see Pittsburgh Pirates, 1993-present".
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