FanPost

Pope Benedict XVI is stepping down....what it means for the Bengals

Pope John Paul died April 2, 2005.
Pope Benedict XVI was elected April 19, 2005
And what happened after Benedict was elected?
The Bengals produced their first winning season, and first playoff appearance in 15 years.
Then went on to go 11-5 winning the division.
The Bengals have made the playoffs in 4 of the 8 years of P-Benny's papacy.
1978 saw the election of Pope John Paul I in Aug 26th during training camp. He died the following month.
The Bengals responded poorly to the loss of the pope, by losing 8 stright games to begin the 1978 season.
Pope John Paul II was elected mid-season, and the Bengals did right the ship under his papacy with 3 straight wins to end the season.
Three years later, the Bengals made their second Super Bowl appearance.
Pope Paul VI assumed the chair of Peter in 1963, and remained the pontiff until 1978. In his papacy, the Bengals team started up, and was run by Paul Brown.
*********************************
So the key question remains, how will the election of the next pope affect the Cincinnati Bengals?
The election of the relatively young Marc Ouellet (60, Canada), Christoph Schonborn (60, Austria) or Angelo Scola (63, Italy) may bode well with the youth movement on the Bengals, and help in the development of the younger players.
While the election of an older candidate such as Franics Arinze (72, Nigeria) or Claudio Hummes (70, Brazil) may assist the Bengals in bringing in some experienced free agents, and help the younger players gain some valuable experience.


This is a FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of Cincy Jungle's writers or editors. It does reflect the views of this particular fan, which is as important as the views of Cincy Jungle's writers or editors.