The greatest coach of all time has to be on the top of Bengaldom’s list of villains if there is a modern-day Scrooge.
After all, in the 23 seasons that Patriots head coach Bill Belichick has won six Super Bowls, the Bengals entered Saturday on Christmas Eve at Gillette Stadium without a victory. Out of twenty games versus him, whether in Cincinnati, Cleveland, or this place, he has won all but four of them.
However, he had never played a Bengals club led by Joe Burrow and his tough defense in the clutch, who came within 39 seconds of winning a Lombardi Trophy the previous year. Never before had Belichick faced a Bengals team that was winning seven games in a row heading into January and playing with the singular focus of winning that game in the last seconds in Los Angeles. The 11–4 Bengals are performing much like the Brady Patriots under Belichick, who used to own December and January.
This was the game that would have been played between the class of the Roaring ’20s and the early-century class of the league, who were always plotting and struggling to stay relevant. As evident as the jeers from the irate Gillette crowd directed at Patriots quarterback Mac Jones during halftime. Due to two terrible mistakes made in the final seconds over the past two weeks, the Patriots are in danger of missing the playoffs. Because they caused turnovers that would have been impossible if they hadn’t, the Bengals have won their previous two games.
According to Ted Karras, the former Patriot center who is now a Bengal, “there is a two and a half decade precedent where they win that game.” “Scary and dangerous… We might run into them again. They are a very competitive team that plays with intensity and is well-coached and prepared. We made things more tougher on ourselves than necessary, and that was a hard-earned victory.”
However, such is the Bengals’ behavior. They have all the answers in the first undefeated November and December in Bengals history, whether it’s a blowout (Carolina), grinder (Tennessee), rally (Tampa Bay), classic (Kansas City), or, as it was on Saturday, holding onto a blown lead. Nor have they been subsisting on fish meal. These groups still have a chance to qualify for the postseason.
Adversity is a part of the games we play championship football in, strong safety Vonn Bell, Saturday’s Answer Man, said. “Great teams never give up, even in the face of difficult circumstances like a cold environment, an away game, shifting momentum, and, as I mentioned earlier, adversity. We simply figure out how to win and engage in team football.”
The Patriots’ chances of making the playoffs are fading, and they might be struggling at 7-8. They still possess championship DNA, though. They even put the coin toss to the test. As the day’s natural game captain, Karras was going to call heads in honor of Matthew Slater, the captain of the Patriots’ special teams and a Karras favorite who always takes heads.
However, Karras lost the flip and had to make an audible.