"You should be crying!": Shannon Sharpe stokes the fire as Chad Johnson crumbles over Cincinnati Bengals’ crushing defeat
The Cincinnati Bengals's postseason hopes have dwindled after the team suffered a 38-44 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday Night Football.
Reeling from the team's third consecutive loss in the league, former Cincinnati Bengals WR Chad Johnson got a dose of reality about the team's playoff chances during an exchange with Shannon Sharpe on Monday's episode of the "Nightcap" podcast.
“You should be crying,” Sharpe teased with brutal honesty after seeing Johnson shedding tears.
Trying to muster hope, Ochocinco replied crying, “We gonna be all right.”
“No, y’all ain’t,” Sharpe shot back.
The banter continued with Shannon Sharpe making another statement.
Talking about the faith of their fanbase, Sharpe quipped, "You got people in Cincinnati believing in you, man."
After their last loss to the Steelers, the Bengals's record deteriorated to 4-8. Currently, they are sitting third in the AFC North. The team has no room for error, with just five games left in the regular season.
Next, the Cincinnati Bengals will face the Dallas Cowboys on December 10.
Cincinnati Bengals is fighting for respect in the postseason
For the true blue Cincinnati Bengals fans, the 2024 NFL season is a bittersweet déjà vu of past heartbreaks. Despite the promising start to recent seasons, the team's postseason performances have been full of disappointments. Between 2004 and 2024, the Bengals have managed to compile a 5-9 record in playoff games.
In 1970, the Cincinnati Bengals suffered a 0-17 defeat to the Indianapolis Colts. Throughout the subsequent decades, they repeatedly fell short in the postseason. From 1973 to 2015, the Bengals' playoff efforts were consistently hindered by losses to teams such as the Miami Dolphins, Pittsburgh Steelers, and Indianapolis Colts.
Yet, there has been a ray of hope.
For instance, in 1981, the Bengals won against the Buffalo Bills in the Divisional Playoffs. In 1990, they won a Wildcard game against the Houston Oilers.
More recently, the Bengals registered back-to-back playoff wins in 2021 and 2022, where they defeated the Tennessee Titans and Buffalo Bills, respectively.
That said, QB Joe Burrow is now far too familiar with the taste of defeat.
"Playoffs, I mean, furthest thing from my mind," he said bluntly in the context of the 2024 NFL season, as reported by NFL.com.