Welcome to the Jungle: How the Bengals became Super Bowl Cinderellas

ESPN Daily

ESPN

Sports

4.6 • 3.9K Ratings

🗓️ 9 February 2022

⏱️ 27 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Outside of maybe Joe Burrow himself, there are not a lot of people who thought the Cincinnati Bengals would be playing for the Lombardi Trophy this Sunday. The franchise is just a couple years removed from having the worst record in the NFL and prior to the 2021 season, they hadn’t won a playoff game in more than three decades…and they entered this season with 125-1 odds of making it to the Super Bowl. It all adds up to one of the most shocking Super Bowl appearances ever, one that has even stunned the city it calls home. ESPN’s Bengals reporter Ben Baby explains how the franchise turned it around so fast (hint: Joe Burrow), and just what the city of Cincinnati is making of their unexpected success. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	ESPN Daily is presented by supercuts, the smarter, easier way to get a haircut.
0:06.7	It's not just any haircut, it's super cuts.
0:11.0	So Ben, I was going to ask you about how Cincinnati's feeling and everything, but then I came
0:18.6	upon this local news report.
0:22.1	We have some trending Bengals news.
0:24.6	Cincinnati Public Schools announced that there will be no classes on Monday, February 14th,
0:29.0	in honor of the Bengal Super Bowl appearance.
0:32.0	They're giving staff and students the day off to hopefully celebrate the city's first ever Super Bowl win.
0:39.6	The day after the Super Bowl, regardless of what happens, Cincinnati public schools
0:44.5	are given their kids, they're giving teachers, all staff the day off.
0:48.4	Ben, what the hell is happening in Cincinnati right now?
0:51.4	Not just Cincinnati public schools, but other school districts go, well, you know, do we really want the kids in school on Monday?
0:58.0	Ben Baby covers the Cincinnati Bengals for ESPN.
1:01.6	If you notice, it's also the staff in Cincinnati public schools that aren't coming in.
1:05.4	And I have a hunch that it may be for the staff, not necessarily the kids, because there's a lot of teachers who might be celebrating pretty hard if the Bengals win their first ever Super Bowl.
1:14.9	Yeah, a lot of adults who've been waiting a very long time.
1:17.9	It won't let educating the youth of their city to let that stand in the way.
1:22.1	No, I mean, these kids have plenty of time to learn.
1:24.3	Let's be honest, you know, there's only one day to really celebrate the day after the Super Bowl. That's where our priorities are right now in Cincinnati. When the Bengals
1:33.6	entered this postseason, it had been since January 1991, the infamous curse of Bo Jackson,
1:39.4	as it's known, in Cincinnati, when Bo got hurt in a playoff game against the Bengals.
1:44.9	Bo Jackson has some room.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from ESPN, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of ESPN and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.