St. Paul's Day

[AmishBengalFan]

With the Bengals soon to be heading to London to play at Wembley, I figured it was high-time to bring up something that we've all known for quite some time.  Our team is much, much better than our cross-state junior rivals, the expansion franchise up north that has the audacity to bear the name of the Father of Football, the late Paul Brown.

Over in England, there are a pair of English Football clubs who are not only bitter geographic rivals, but who share a common history.  Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspurs.  The two teams' home stadiums are just a few miles apart in London, and fans of the two sides really do not get along, but the rivalry they share in the stands is NOT shared on the field, as the Gunners have finished ahead of Spurs every year for TWENTY-ONE straight years.  In fact, Gunner fans have a name for the day that Arsenal clinches their rightful place ahead of Tottenham in the standings... they call it St Totteringham's Day.

 

 

Well, over here, as we know, the Bengals have pretty much owned the "Browns" since their creation in 1999 - especially during the past decade.  Here's a quick rundown of the dates when we Bengal fans could have celebrated "St. Paul's Day", just over the past 10 seasons:

2006: Bengals 8-8, Browns 4-12: St Paul's Day was December 7, 2006.  The Bengals (7-5) were 3 up on the Browns (4-8) with 4 weeks to play, but by virtue of completing the series sweep to a combined score of 64-17, Cincinnati needed only one win or one Brown loss to clinch a St Paul's celebration.  The Bengals delivered by putting up 14 points in the first quarter against 2-10 Oakland en route to a convincing 27-10 victory.  As icing on the cake, the Browns simultaneously lost in equally-convincing fashion 27-7 at Heinz Field. 

2007: Bengals 7-9, Browns 10-6.  St Paul's Day did not happen

2008: Bengals 4-11-1, Browns 4-12.  St Paul's Day was December 28, 2008.  The Bengals trailed the Browns by 2.5 games with 3 games left.  The good guys ran the table, including a 14-0 shut-out victory in Cleveland.  With Pittsburgh blowing out the Browns en route to a Week 17 31-0 win, the Bengals needed to hold off Kansas City to climb out of last place on the final day of the season.  Down 16-0, the Chiefs scored on a Tony Gonzalez TD with 2:28 remaining to cut the deficit to 16-6.  But a failed two-point conversion and a Bengal recovery of the ensuring onside kick attempt secured the victory and the arrival of St Paul's Day.

2009: Bengals 10-6, Browns 5-11.  St Paul's Day was November 29, 2009.  The 7-3 Bengals played at home against the 1-9 Browns, needing only a tie or a win to clinch a finish ahead of their cross-state junior rivals.  Brown's QB Brady Quinn's pass intended for WR Mohamed Massaquoi fell incomplete with just under 2 minutes remaining, allowing Cincinnati to run out the clock and earn the 16-7 victory.

2010: Bengals 4-12, Browns 5-11.  St Paul's Day did not happen.

2011: Bengals 9-7, Browns 4-12.  St Paul's Day was December 8, 2011.  Coming into play in week 14, the Bengals (7-5) were 3 games ahead of the Browns (4-8) with 4 to play.  But having swept Cleveland in their two meetings, the Stripes needed only one win or one Browns loss to secure a higher finish in the North.  Fortunately, the Browns pre-emptively lost that week on Thursday night at Pittsburgh, 14-3.  The ghost of St Paul was seen dancing in the endzone at Heinz Field that night as the Browns slunk off the field, once again in Cincinnati's shadow.

2012: Bengals 10-6, Browns 5-11.  St Paul's Day was December 16, 2012.  Coming into the week, the Bengals (7-6) had a 2 game lead over Cleveland (5-8) and had split their head-to-head games.  Needing a win and a Brown loss, the Bengals took care of business at Philadelphia, winning 34-13 on Thursday Night Football.  The Browns completed their task, losing 38-21 at home against the Redskins, as for the second straight year St Paul's spectre came back to haunt the pretenders by guiding them to a bottom-clinching defeat while Bengal fans looked on.

2013: Bengals 11-5, Browns 4-12:  St Paul's Day was December 8, 2013.  The Bengals (8-4) held a commanding 4-game lead over Cleveland (4-8) with 4 weeks to play, but had not yet secured a St Paul's Day due to having split head-to-head and being only 1/2 game ahead in Division play.  No worries, as the Bengals trounced the Colts at St.PBS, 42-28 to secure the arrival of St Paul's Day.  The ghost of St Paul also smiled down in Foxboro, as the Browns endured a terrific collapse, yielding sixteen 4th-quarter points to the Patriots, allowing New England to escape with a 27-26 victory.

2014: Bengals 10-5-1, Browns 7-9:  St Paul's Day was December 14, 2014.  After week 10, the Bengals TRAILED the Browns in the standings (6-3 vs 5-3-1), but the Stripes then rattled off 3 straight wins while the Browns dropped 2 of three coming into their week 15 showdown at St.PBS.  St Paul's favored team smited the pretenders 30-0, causing a raucous celebration of the 4th St Paul Day in 4 years.

2015: Bengals 12-4, Browns 3-13:  St Paul's Day was November 22, 2015.  The Stripes rattled-off eight straight wins, culiminating with a 31-10 drubbing of the Pretenders in week 9 to pull 6.5 games ahead with 8 to play.  St Pauls' Day was delayed as the Bengals dropped a pair of games to Houston & Arizona, and it wasn't until their November 29 rematch in week 12 that the Bengals put the Browns out of their misery, 37-3.  It was still the earliest St Paul's Day in recent memory, happening in November for the first time since 11/29/2009

 

That's eight St Paul's Days in the past 10 years, and 5 in a row.  Though we know that the Bengals of the early 2000's were god awful, and that the # of St Paul's Days we could have celebrated since their beginning in 1999 may be few, it's good to know that order has been restored and that the Ghost of PB is happy with the way things have turned around.

 

[JC]

Damn. I completely forgot Totty melted down and finished below Arsenal last year. 

[AmishBengalFan]

Yup.  Spurs were up 2 with 1 to play and were playing an already-relegated Newcastle.

The Brown Ales spanked the Roosters 5-0.  Arsenal did their job and won, finishing in 2nd ahead of Spurs by a single point right at the buzzer.  Roflcopter.