Now is the time for all real Bengals fans to rally around a team that gave us a lot of happy Monday mornings, broke some barriers and played hard to the end.

This team exceeded all preseason expectations and though they finally bowed to the inevitable all of us should walk away from this season with our heads held high and with great hopes for the future. Yes we have some flaws but none are ones that cannot be overcome. We should all look toward tomorrow with a real sense of optimism. We have a pretty solid foundation and some real talent to build on. Yes we lost today. I was hopeful that they could bust thru another barrier with a first playoff win in the ML era. Alas it was not to be. We have work to do and we have things to fix, but we have fewer things to fix this year than last year when we have fewer things than the year before. I am looking forward to all of the draft discussion which is going to begin soon.

We lost. I am a Bengals fan. I should be sadder. But rather than sadness I feel a great sense of optimism and resolve when I think about where this team can go. Hell, I am even smiling and that is a rare thing after a Bengal loss.