CINCINNATI -- As the sun was setting late Sunday afternoon, somewhere beyond the charcoal-thick skies above Paul Brown Stadium, the usual stream of sad-faced supporters of the Bengals glided glacially down the iconic, infamous 'Esca-loser.' Barely budging. Probably barely breathing.
Welcome, indeed, to the Bungle.
They came, these poor souls, like Charlie Brown leaning forward and glaring all stern-like at Lucy holding that football, expecting something different. This had been their year. They'd been coronated AFC North champs for several weeks. They were the top seed in the entire conference, for crying out loud.
And there went Lucy all over again, yanking away that football, rolling together those fingers into a tight fist and slugging away at will.
"We hit them, man. We hit them," Ryan Shazier was telling me well after the Steelers' 33-20 bullying was done. "They talked, and we hit them."
Oh, yeah. That, too.
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