Redditors weigh in on how long it’ll take to hate the Bengals
While perusing Reddit the other day, I stumbled upon a thread in the NFL subreddit titled "How long before everyone starts to hate the Bengals?" You can read the original post below.
The Bengals have experienced two incredibly successful seasons back-to-back, reaching Super Bowl LVI last year and narrowly missing Super Bowl LVII to the eventual champion Kansas City Chiefs.
Speaking of the Chiefs, the original poster mentioned them when bringing up this subject. They noted that people liked KC and then once the organization continued to win and be a Super Bowl contender, people turned on them. The original poster simply wondered when that would happen to the Bengals.
I thumbed through the Reddit post and grabbed a few responses that I found interesting. While I tried my best not to edit the responses (even if they weren't grammatically correct or had misspellings), one had to be edited due to a curse word.
What will it take for people to turn on the Bengals?
"If they have the same dominance the Chiefs have.
The Chiefs have been in three the last four Super Bowls." - u/HiImSawyer
"Eli Apple leaving the team would hinder (the hate)
He is a FA iirc" - u/PoogeneBalloonanny
"After they win a couple SBs.
I'm sure they'll cope." - u/Fuqwon
"People hate the chiefs? I think Mahomes is pretty universally liked…not so much some of his family members.
I think Burrow could kill a puppy in the middle of SNF and people would still like him, as long as people like the QB they’ll like the team." - u/Bulky-District-2757
"***everyone likes Joe burrow
after the trash talk and the whining from other bengals players I think the public's fandom of the bengals has declined a bit" - u/MagicMer4042
"It’s pretty annoying that our entire fandom is being so affected by the more recent fans. A vast majority of us still have the humility instilled in us from decades of mediocrity. But the vocal minority that hopped on when we drafted Joe is the crowd that everyone hates (aside from AFCN fans; they’ve always hated us, and we them).
I’m all for gaining fans but if all they’re gonna do is run their mouth when we get an inkling of success, then they can kindly f**k off." - u/bionicmanmeetspast
"Depends. Is Romo or Collinsworth going to give 2-3 ridiculous nicknames to Burrow and/or the Bengals?" - u/russianturnipofdoom
"I don’t hate the chiefs, but the bengals certainly rubbed me the wrong way this year" - u/PhillyBooBird
"Don't they need to win something first?" - u/thepersonimgoingtobe
"I think it would take either Burrow going from being seen as confident in a fun way to cocky in an annoying way or signing big flashy free agents and the team acting like the "dream team" eagles from 2011 or whenever that was. People are getting bored of the Chiefs but I don't see too many people hating on them the way everyone rooted against the Pats for the last decade+." - u/bizmarkiefader
"I don't dislike the Chiefs. I've never like the Bengals. Cincy has been having some success, yes, but they do seem entitled and mouthy." - u/forgedinbeerkegs
"I already hate them. I have seen more annoying bandwagoners come out of the woodwork than ever before" - u/Lukacris12
"People had a favorable opinion of the Bengals because they were a traditionally underperforming team. That and Joe Burrow is objectively likeable and cool. Also, generally people like to see someone new win when they have no rooting interest." - u/sueder78
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So there you have it folks -- Straight from Reddit!
Nothing here is all that shocking. I've discussed before how the Bengals can't really be looked at as true villains until they win a Super Bowl and that appears to be the sentiment here too for the most part.
Those who weren't fond of Cincinnati cited the team's cockiness and trash-talking ways as a reason why they weren't big on them anymore. Again, not surprising.
Once a team is successful for more than a season, they're no longer a lovable underdog and Bengals fans are experiencing that despite not yet winning the big one. It'll come soon enough.