What the heck’s a Cincinnati sports fan to do?
Be miserable about the Bengals? Or be excited about the Reds?
Are you more focused on wanting coach Zac Taylor fired after that absolute disaster in Minnesota? Or are you more focused on thinking manager Terry Francona is a miracle worker after the Reds tied the New York Mets in the National League wildcard race?
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Sunday has to be one of the weirdest days in Cincinnati sports history. Equal parts depressing and exhilarating.
Do we dwell on the negative or focus on the positive? Why can’t we ever have it where the Reds and Bengals are good and making us happy at the same time? And weren’t the Bengals supposed to give us hope after yet another lost Reds season?
So many questions. So many emotions.
Cincinnati Reds pitcher Tony Santillan (64) reacts to striking out the last batter as the Cincinnati Reds defeat the Chicago Cubs at Great American Ball Park in Cincinnati on Sept. 21, 2025.
My advice: Go all in on the Reds.
They’re everything Cincinnatians love. We love a team that battles and doesn’t give up. (What city doesn’t, honestly?) They’re young and hungry and get along with each other.
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The Reds are doing everything Cincinnatians have been told for years that they’d do. They finally have pitching and it’s pretty damn impressive. Their young players are coming of age. Remember all those years ago when they told us “Hunter Greene is the future” and “Elly De La Cruz is the future” and “Matt McLain is the future” and Spencer Steer and Andrew Abbott and Nick Lodolo and on and on.
We’re living in that future, folks.
It’s seemingly clicked for these guys. The Reds have won five straight games, just swept a four-game series against the playoff-bound Chicago Cubs. Yep, this is the same team that got swept a week ago against the lowly Athletics in a West Sacramento, California, minor-league ballpark. Bet you gave up on the Reds after that series, didn’t you?
The Reds won the first game of the Cubs series 1-0 on the strength of Greene’s first career complete game. They won Sunday’s game 1-0. They displayed their pitching depth with Abbott, Nick Martinez, Graham Ashcraft and Tony Santillan combining for the latest gem.
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Can’t help but think the Reds are doing something special, perhaps even magical. Because how many of these one-run games had the Reds lost this season? We all lost count. Clutch hit? Hell, they don’t even seem to need one now to win.
The Reds have matched their longest winning streak of the season with a week to go. This is the hot streak everyone kept waiting and waiting and waiting for. Bet you gave up hope weeks ago that this team would get hot, didn’t you?
No stones being thrown here. Two weeks ago, the Reds had fallen to six games back in the wildcard standings. They’d lost 11 of their previous 14 games.
We all thought it was over. Bring on the Bengals! Joe Burrow. Ja’Marr Chase. Tee Higgins. Trey Hendrickson. It’s football season now. Maybe next year for the Reds.
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It still might be next year for the Reds. No one can blame you if you’re still in “prove-it” mode about them. Wake me when they actually make the playoffs and then win a postseason series. Thirty years without winning a playoff series can make even the hardest-drinking, chain-smoking cynic blush.
But what else you got, Cincinnati?
Certainly not the Bengals. Oh, you still had hope after Joe Burrow’s toe got smashed into the turf in Week 2, putting the great but injury-prone franchise quarterback on the shelf for at least three months.
Joke’s on you. Because anyone who really knows the inner workings of the Bengals knew they were cooked the moment Burrow hobbled through that locker room on a crutch and wearing a protective boot.
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Please, Cincinnati, come to grips with Bengals reality. Joe Burrow is the Bengals. End of story. They are nothing without him.
But come on, no one saw what was coming in Minnesota. The Bengals suffered their worst loss in franchise history, a 38-point beatdown to the Vikings. The Bengals can’t run the ball. They can’t hold onto the ball. They can’t stop teams from moving the ball. Dig up those 1990s one-liners.
How embarrassing is it?
Dave Shula never lost this bad.
Contact columnist Jason Williams at jwilliams@enquirer.com
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Reds, Bengals leave Cincinnati fans with mixed emotions