Paul Daugherty

pdaugherty@enquirer.com

And now it starts.

The season that will determine The Season. The truth and its consequences. Good enough is no longer good enough in Cincinnati. A 12-4 regular season is fine. It's a big notch on a normal belt. Not our belt, which has been cinched to snapping by 25 years of postseason famine, including the previous four seasons. Only a playoff win will release the pressure.

We approach the next game with equal parts worship and dread. It's a conflicted attitude that only Cincinnati can understand. Nothing will matter if everything is lost next weekend.

It's fitting then, in ways both competitive and dramatic, that the opponent be the Pittsburgh Steelers, fixtures in our nightmares, the bullseye of every local sling and arrow. Before becoming a Jedi, one must face Darth Vader.

An "exorcism,'' explained Marvin Lewis. Yes.

It was funny Sunday, in the home locker room after the Bengals' 24-16 ho-hummer over Baltimore: No player talked about the possibility of the week off that would have come with a Denver loss to San Diego. Everyone saw as inevitable a third 15-rounder with the Steelers.

Analysis: Why Bengals beat Ravens

It was as if, to a man, the Bengals knew that validation could only come at the expense of the Steelers. Not that the players expressed it quite that way. Most were reticent after the game. Repeat after me:

They're very good. We're very good. We're looking forward to it. It should be fun.

Yep, just a little friendly competition between friends who own a friendly respect for each other. As friends. One guy didn't row that river of correctness.

"I ain't scared of them,'' Domata Peko said. "It ain't nothin' special. They got us last time here. We went down and played on their level. Like all that chippy (stuff). We play between the whistles. All that extra stuff, it was us, playing down to their level.''

Peko suggested that bit of lost composure won't occur again. "Lesson learned,'' he said. Or as Andrew Whitworth put it, "The emotion is over. It's playoff time. I don't think we're real concerned about it at this point.''

Marvin Lewis gets 'Gatorade shower' after win

And yet. . .

What proper Bengals exorcism could occur without Pittsburgh playing the devil role? What worthwhile soul-saving could happen at the hands of the Kansas City Chiefs?

All this next game is, is a defining moment for the franchise and especially for this particular group of players, several of whom are free agents and likely won't be here next year. It's for Ken Anderson and Carson Palmer, Keith Rivers and Chris Henry. And Kevin Huber. It's for every very good Bengals team that wasn't quite very good enough, and for a fan base down 6-0 in the rings department.

There will be other Big Games against other Good Teams. But for this town and this team, this game is the only game, ever.

Reaching any Super Bowl without passing Pittsburgh first would be like entering Heaven without confronting St. Peter.

As for Sunday's victory, I think it was against the Baltimore Ravens:

The Bengals did what they had to do, which included doing nothing disastrous. AJ McCarron knows the drill, and has since his first start three weeks ago, at San Francisco: Don't force anything, don't throw to the other guys, trust your talented teammates.

That's what McCarron did Sunday. He discovered the warm-fuzzy security of Tyler Eifert, finding him on checkdowns in the gaps of the Ravens' defense, and once in the end zone. He threw twice in a row to A.J. the Elder, down by the Baltimore goal line. Green responded with two catches worthy of Baryshnikov, both sideline-walkers. The first went for 12 yards, the next was a 5-yard TD pass.

Hill hits stride with Fisher in front

"(I) put it where the DB isn't and (Green) goes up and makes plays,'' McCarron explained.

That put the Bengals ahead 14-9 early in the third quarter, and seemed to get the offense's mind right. Until then, that unit seemed somewhat less than fully engaged. Lewis alluded to it:

"Now the focus moves on,'' he said. "That seems where our heads were today with things.''

Meantime, the defense allowed the second-fewest points in the league. Rey Maualuga called it the best defense he has been on in his seven years here.

So now, here we are. Here we go. One and on, one for pride and payback. One for the last 25 years. The Pittsburgh Steelers are paying a visit. A town's sports psyche stands on edge. No more looking forward, Bengals. Forward is here.

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