CINCINNATI — Washington Park was packed shoulder to shoulder as head coach Zac Taylor took the stage to thank the crowd for their support all season. In the past few months, the Bengals defied expectations to win the AFC North division, then they won their first playoff game since the early 90s and then their first away playoff game in franchise history.
Suddenlym Cincinnati was in the Super Bowl.
Though the team ultimately fell to Los Angeles Rams, fans said there was still a lot to celebrate, especially with the potential to keep the momentum going into next year.
Mayor Aftab Pureval opened the rally saluting the fans for their support for the team and the city of Cincinnati.
“I am so proud to be your mayor,” he said. “This is an incredible turnout.”
One of the first to come up and speak was Gov. Mike DeWine, a self-proclaimed, lifelong Bengals fan, who said this historic Bengals run helped galvanize southwest Ohio and the entire state.
“We’ve come through a tough time in the past couple years,” he said. “We needed this. We needed hope. We needed optimism. We needed victories, and they did it.”
The most anticipated guest, however, closed the program. Taylor took the stage after Bengals owner Mike Brown and opened his speech by giving credit to the fans, especially the thousands who traveled to the away playoff games.
“We felt you when we beat the Raiders for our first home playoff win in a long time,” he said. “We felt you in Nashville Tennessee when we got our first road playoff win. We felt you in Kansas City when we won the AFC Championship, and I promise you we felt you in Los Angeles when we played in the Super Bowl.”
Taylor, who had signed an extension to his contract earlier that day, will stay on as head coach through 2026. He promised during that time to continue to grow as a coach and help develop the team’s young talent, who he said will likely stay on to build the team into its future.
“We got a great group of players that you all have fallen in love with, they love you all,” he said. “They love making plays on the field and I promise you the one thing we took away from last weekend is we gotta find a way to get back and win it all.”
Fans ended the rally optimistic for the team’s future. The Bengal “Fan of the Year” Jim Foster, who helped open the rally with a “Who Dey” chant, said the team feels different after this season. He said fans have high expectations and he has every reason to believe the team will meet them.
“We better get used to success in the next 10-12 years in Cincinnati because it’s going to happen,” he said.