Since 1990, the Bengals have had three winning seasons and in those three seasons, they went to the playoffs each time. 2011 was one of those three seasons which means that in 2012, the Bengals will have a chance to do something that haven't done in a very, very long time: have back-to-back winning seasons.

If you take a look back at the history of the team, the last time this technically happened was in the 1981 and 1982 seasons. However, while they went 12-4 in '81, they only went 7-2 in '82 due to a player strike that shortened the season. So, if you really want to get technical, the Bengals haven't have back-to-back full winning seasons since the '75 and '76 seasons.

For the first time in a long time I'm actually beginning to hold the Bengals to a winning standard and if they meet my expectations, they will have done something they couldn't do since the '80s (or '70s if you want to get technical). Are you allowing yourselves to hope or even expect good things?

Talk about it.