Bengals Beat: Another Sign These Bengals Have Turned The Corner From Boomer Esiason, Chad Johnson

CINCINNATI — Ever since Joe Burrow arrived in town the Cincinnati Bengals have had a different feel to them, a more modern and relevant feel. The two latest inductees to the team’s Ring of Honor feel it now, something they didn’t quite vibe back in their playing days.

The Bengals announced Thursday that quarterback Boomer Esiason (1984-92, ’97) and receiver Chad Johnson (2001-10) will be added to the team’s Ring of Honor in 2023. They will join Ken Anderson, Willie Anderson, Paul Brown, Isaac Curtis, Anthony Muñoz and Ken Riley in the Bengals Ring of Honor.

The Ring of Honor induction ceremony will take place during halftime of the Monday Night Football game against the Los Angeles Rams on Sept. 25. (Tickets for all home games remain at bengals.com/tickets or by calling Bengals Fan Relations at (513) 621-8383.)

“Boomer and Chad were both exceptional players,” said Brown in the press release announcing the newest inductees. “If you look at the statistics, Boomer has a long list of quarterback firsts here. And Chad was a superb athlete who was probably the quickest receiver we have had here. They could have moments when they just carried the team by themselves. Both players are very deserving of this honor.”

The way the Bengals have marketed their success over the last two years should tell you all you need to know about their desire to promote their success and push their brand into a new era.

Led by Executive VP Katie Blackburn, husband Troy and team president Mike Brown (who turns 88 Aug. 10), the Bengals are always going to have a business-first approach, making sure their franchise is viable and protected from all external market and league forces.

You can thank Katie’s daughters, Caroline and Elizabeth for that. They are the marketing gurus of the franchise now. They followed through on the long-held desire of the fan base to have a Ring of Honor to pay tribute to the legendary players and figures that have come through the organization since its founding in 1968.

And on Thursday, it was Caroline introducing Boomer Esiason and Chad Johnson as the seventh and eighth members of the Bengals Ring of Honor.

“Thank you Caroline very much for that very nice introduction, and it is truly an honor to be inducted into the Bengals Ring of Honor to join some great players and of course the great history that we have achieved as a franchise,” Esiason said. “I just want to say I’m very happy to be going in. I look forward to seeing Chad on that night and celebrating our history together and hopefully watching a great team like the Cincinnati Bengals this year.”

“I got the call from Mike Brown directly. You know, Mike’s very low key guy, as we all know. He said he was very happy to announce and to tell me that I was going into the Ring of Honor. And in true Mike Brown, very just kind of laid back fashion, says, ‘You deserve to be here. We owe you a lot.’ And he made me feel great about the honor. And I never really thought it was going to happen. But here I am some 39 years after the day that I was drafted. And it’s really kind of a surreal feeling, to be honest with you.”

Esiason is regarded as one of the greatest locker-room leaders in Bengals history. In 1986, he earned his first of three Pro Bowl bids with the Bengals while leading the NFL’s most productive offense. In 1988, he led the NFL with a 97.4 passer rating and helped the Bengals win the AFC Championship. That year, Esiason was named the NFL’s Most Valuable Player by the Pro Football Writers of America and the Associated Press. Esiason ranks third in Bengals history with 27,149 passing yards and 187 touchdowns.

“They’ve morphed into the 21st century now in the NFL, and they’ve caught up,” Esiason told me. “And when Joe (Burrow) gets his new contract, it’s going to be earth-shattering for a lot of people to see. And this is a small market team. This is a family that doesn’t have any other outside businesses other than the team.

“It was amazing when Paycor finally became the title sponsor of the stadium, and I don’t know if they had to do that financially, because ultimately they’re going to have to pay a lot of these great players. But the league has grown so much over the last 20 years, and whether you like the commissioner or you don’t like the commissioner, he has done well by a lot of these owners in terms of stadiums, in terms of revenue, moving the draft around, the Super Bowl popularity, the television popularity, the radio popularity, fantasy football.

“Now, of course, gambling’s involved. So it has grown significantly and the Bengals have grown with them. And they do have one of the best stadiums in the in the league. And when they do win and they have great players like we did back in the 80s and during Marvin Lewis’s time there, too, when they were winning with Carson Palmer and of course Andy Dalton, you saw the fans come out and support the team and now the fan base is rabid because they have some of the best players at their respective positions in the NFL. So, it’s great to see that the Bengals are now catching up with everybody.”

As for Chad Johnson, he was an iconic brand unto himself. So big, as a matter of fact, he re-branded again into Ochocinco. As Esiason rightly pointed out Thursday, Johnson was the reason the NFL eventually embraced the idea of celebrations in the end zone (with some restrictions of course).

I asked Ocho Thursday if he ever regretted his personality overshadowing his immense football talents. His answer – as always – direct and from the heart.

“I’m glad it did. I’m glad it did. I’m glad it did because I didn’t care about stats, I didn’t care about numbers, I didn’t care about all that stuff,” Johnson told me. “I played the game football the same way I played it when I played at Liberty City. Often when I played in high school, I just had fun. I was about having fun. I was about entertaining. The numbers were going to take care of itself.”

“Obviously, the end goal is to win a Lombardi. I wasn’t able to attain that. I wasn’t able to get that. You know, it’s a team sport, but what I did is I did my job to the best of my ability and entertain the masses. And that that’s that’s it. That’s all I cared about, doing what I could do to make football fun again in Cincinnati. And I think I did.”

Heck, even Bill Belichick enjoyed Johnson’s celebrations and would often tell his players to celebrate great plays with each other. Get excited, he would say. You play this game with emotion. Get excited for each other. Johnson’s playmaking and enthusiasm earned him a spot on Belichick’s Patriots with Tom Brady in 2011, a season that ended just short of a ring in Super Bowl XLVI.

But, ironically, the Bengals – with Mike Brown fully in command back in the 1990s and early 2000s – was not one of those to get excited about Cincinnati’s own great football history or legacy, led by his father.

One of the most popular players in NFL history, Johnson’s fun-loving charisma intersected perfectly with the rise of social media and transformed a quotable star athlete into a Twitter pioneer. Between his elaborate choreographed touchdown celebrations and bombastic boasts, he was one of the most electrifying players of his era. During his 10 seasons in Cincinnati, Johnson became the franchise’s all-time leading receiver with 10,783 yards, the third most in the NFL during that stretch.

Chad reiterated what many Bengals fans have long felt. If Kimo von Oelhoffen doesn’t roll into Carson Palmer’s left knee, they go onto beat the Pittsburgh Steelers and eventually win the Super Bowl XL crown that the Steelers hoisted in Detroit.

“I think if Carson was able to stay upright and if the knee situation didn’t happen, we would have would have a Lombardi,” Johnson said. “We would have the Lombardi Trophy.”

What makes Chad Johnson so excited to cheer on his Bengals now? The way they’re treating Joe Burrow, and about to pay him.

“It’s awesome,” Johnson said outside a cigar bar in Tampa’s Ybor City. “It’s a joy to see how far they’ve come from top to bottom, from top to bottom, especially with the product on the field. Obviously, with the addition of Joe Burrow, me as a fan and fans of Cincinnati, you have to understand that we will be in contention every single year. Every single year.

“Come hell or high water, regardless of what pieces might change offensively or whatever changes defensively, as long as we have do at the helm, we will always be in contention and have a chance at the Lombardi Trophy. So that is a great feeling. That’s a great feeling for me and it’s a great feeling for the band. The Cincinnati.”

Ocho always did have the pulse of Cincinnati and the Jungle.