2008. The Bengals turn into Bungles, ruining a pretty good run by Marvin Lewis to go 4-11-1. 

2009. The Bungles shock us all. They go 10-6, making our wonderful city of Cincinnati proud of our embattled NFL franchise. Sure, they go one and done in the playoffs, but they have the makings of a great franchise, don't they? It wasn't 2005-2006, where our destiny was bottled up purely in Carson Palmer's (not-so, apparently) golden arm. We had a great running game, and one of the best defenses in the league.

We thought '10 would be a playoff year, a championship year, a year to remember. 

How we were wrong.

2010. The Bungles return, losing several games to the tom-foolery that they were known for in the 90's and early 00's (do I need to remind you about the Tampa-Bay game?). T.O ruins the teams chemistry, offensive identity, and the Bengals go 4-12. 

2011. Could they surprise us, yet again? The Bengals make one of the best off-season moves in their (Mike Brown) history by firing Bobby Brat's ass, and hire a pound-the-ball-commited, WCO system coordinator, Jay Gruden. They follow up their good 2010 draft with a good 2011 draft that exceeded most of our expectations. We have a budding superstar WR, hopeful franchise QB, a workhorse running back (that carried us into the '09 playoffs, need you forget) that wants to come back, and a defense that wants redemption from mediocrity and wants to morph back into the elite, top 4 defense it was in '11. 

Our team has been showing their chemistry and work ethic with their offseason workouts. Something no one would have expected from the Chaotic Criminal Cats of Cincinnati (alliteration is fun), right?

Oh, and I forgot. We have one of the easiest schedules in the league.

So could we pull an '09? 

Post in the comments below, Por Favor.

Gracias, 

CincyPlayoffWin2012