The Cincinnati Bengals put on an impressive performance to defeat to the favored Buffalo Bills 27-10 in the divisional round. The Bengals had to face Super Bowl favorites, an MVP candidate and do it all on the road in snowy conditions, but every factor turned out to be no issue for the defending AFC champions.
The win marked the Bengals’ 10th straight victory. You have to go back to Halloween to find a Cincinnati loss.
Despite having stars on all sides of the ball, nearly winning the Super Bowl last year, securing the No. 3 seed and playing their best football at the end of the year, many have underestimated or overlooked the Bengals. Cincinnati feels it is not getting enough respect from those outside the building and its mission is to continue to prove the doubters wrong.
“They keep talking us down, and we’ll keep showing up,” wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase said, via the Cincinnati Enquirer. “The disrespect they gave us, we don’t care how they treated us and how they’re going to do us. We had the hardest schedule all year. Nothing is going to be easy for us. We know what we’re capable of, and that’s why we came out here not making a fuss with anybody and just putting on a show for the world to see.”
The Bengals did not seem to like that the NFL was already selling seats to a potential neutral site AFC Championship Game between the Bills and Kansas City Chiefs. Even if was done to get ahead of the situation in case the top seeds did face off in the conference title game, the Bengals saw it as the league overlooking their abilities.
As they were eliminating the Bills, quarterback Joe Burrow said in a now viral moment, “You better send those refunds,” referring to the 50,000 Buffalo and Kansas City season ticket holders who bought tickets to the potential neutral site game.
The Bills were 6-point favorites to win the divisional matchup, something else the Bengals locker room did not appreciate. Defensive tackle D.J. Reader says he is no longer worried about the outside perception.
“I’m done harping on (respect), I don’t care if they respect us or not,” Reader said, via NFL.com. “We got a bunch of guys that care and play football hard. (Forget about) them. I don’t care. I’m done caring about it. Wherever they got the line, however they feel week-to-week, we’re just going to play football. It’s not even worth addressing anymore.”
The Bengals are underdogs and on the…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at CBSSports.com Headlines…