Tom Brady and the Patriots dominated the Bengals, 43-17, at Gillette Stadium in 2014.
Tom Brady and the Patriots dominated the Bengals, 43-17, at Gillette Stadium in 2014.Jim Davis
Picked-up pieces while revisiting “We’re on to Cincinnati.”
⋅ It was 11 years ago. The Tom Brady Patriots had just been smoked by the Chiefs, 41-14, on “Monday Night Football” when ESPN’s Trent Dilfer buried the New England dynasty, telling America that the Patriots “aren’t good anymore!”
Bill Belichick didn’t want to talk about any of it in his postgame press conference and answered most questions with, “We’re on to Cincinnati.”
A week later, the Patriots welcomed the Bengals, spanked them, 43-17, and they wound up in the Super Bowl, where they beat the defending-champion Seahawks, 28-24, in the Malcolm Butler/Pete Carroll game. It was the start of a five-year run in which the Patriots went to four Super Bowls and won three.
That’s when “We’re on to Cincinnati” became a local sports rallying cry, alongside, “Beat LA,” “No days off!” and “Don’t let us win this game tonight!”
Fast forward to 2025, where your first-place, playoff-bound Patriots are back in Cincinnati Sunday at 1 p.m., trying to win a ninth straight game.
This surprise return to NFL relevance has made the Patriots appointment television throughout New England and across much of Football America. The matchup with the not-so-mighty Bengals (3-7) has me in a mood to stoke the flames of famous Boston-Cincinnati sports moments.
Too bad there are almost none.
Truly. When it comes to hot sports rivalries, the Boston vs. Cincinnati fire has little fuel.
I know what you’re thinking: Red Sox-Reds, 1975. Greatest World Series of all time. Nothing better. Luis Tiant’s pirouettes, Ed Armbrister’s bunt, Bernie Carbo’s homer, Carlton Fisk’s midnight moonshot off the pole, Pete Rose as MVP.
All true. But that spectacular Boston-Cincinnati event was an absolute one-off, generating none of the hatred, agita, and bitterness that’s stamped Red Sox-Yankees, Celtics-76ers, and Bruins-Canadiens through the decades.
Here in New England, the ’75 Series is remembered fondly — to a point where we sometimes behave as if the thing ended in a tie, as if Boston’s Game 7 loss didn’t actually happen. Remember all those fuzzy stories about “the World Series that saved the sport,” and “baseball was the true winner”?
After Fisk’s parabolic poke squared that Series, 3-3, the Globe’s great Ray Fitzgerald wrote, “Call it off. Call the seventh game off. Let the World Series stand this way, three games for the Cincinnati Reds and three for the Boston Red Sox.”
Channel 5’s Clark Booth added, “They should spread tables and checkered tablecloths across the outfield and just have a picnic, a feast to a glorious World Series, and toast one another until dawn.”
That’s hardly “Cincinnati sucks!” if you catch my drift.
Amazingly, apart from Red Sox-Reds ’75, there’s almost no postseason sports history involving our two cities: The Bengals were invented by football icon Paul Brown and introduced to the AFL in 1968. The Patriots are 18-10 all time vs. the Bengals, but despite sharing space in the AFC for almost 60 seasons, the teams have never met in the playoffs. Meanwhile, the Red Sox and Reds have staged only one playoff duel in 269 aggregate big league seasons, and Cincinnati has no NHL team to compete with the Bruins.
That leaves the NBA, where the Bill Russell champion Celtics three times defeated the old Cincinnati Royals (now the Sacramento Kings) in playoff series in the 1960s. Those Royals featured Oscar Robertson, Wayne “The Wall” Embry, Jerry Lucas, Jack Twyman, and Adrian Smith, but they were never a match for Boston’s basketball dynasty. Our closest call came in 1963, when the Royals pushed the Celtics to a seventh game, where the Bostons were rescued by Sam Jones’s 47 points at the Old Garden.
That was Bob Cousy’s final season. Six years after retiring, Cousy was hired as coach of the Royals and — in an effort to sell tickets and appease his bosses — came out of retirement to help out Robertson in the backcourt at the age of 41. Red Auerbach stirred up some Boston-Cincinnati controversy when he demanded compensation for Cousy’s rights and pried Bill Dinwiddie from the Royals. Swell. The Cooz played in only seven games for Cincinnati.
The best manager in Red Sox history, Terry Francona, today is skipper of the Reds, and he brought his team to Fenway for interleague last summer. Kevin Youkilis and Andrew Benintendi are from Cincinnati. College football Hall of Famer Pat McInally was drafted by the Bengals and went on to play in the Super Bowl. Red Sox legend Don Zimmer went to Cincinnati’s Western Hills High School, also the scholastic home of Rose.
Finally, there is this: On Sept. 8 of last year, the Jerod Mayo era began in Cincinnati with a stunning 16-10 Patriots victory over the Bengals.
The Patriots 16-10 win over the Bengals last season ended up being the high point of Jerod Mayo's tenure as coach.
The Patriots 16-10 win over the Bengals last season ended up being the high point of Jerod Mayo's tenure as coach.Danielle Parhizkaran/Globe Staff
After that game, Bob Kraft came down to the locker room, said, “People had all the excuses that it couldn’t happen, but you did it,” and presented the game ball to Mayo.
Four months later, Kraft gave Mayo a pink slip minutes after a 4-13 season ended.
Now they’re on to Cincinnati. Again.
⋅ Quiz: 1. Name six NFL head coaches who had led their current team to five or more playoff berths; 2. Name four Bruins since 1980 to score at least 100 points in multiple seasons (excludes players who played with more than one team during their 100-point season). Answers below.
⋅ Is it my imagination or does our town have an inordinate number of former Red Sox, Celtics, and Patriots who now work for those teams and spend every professional moment defending everything those teams do? No need for it, guys. A little truth here and there is not going to cost you your job. Fans will respect you more if you just tell them what you really think. Cousy was a master of blunt truths, as were Jerry Remy and Dennis Eckersley. Similarly, Jim Rice and Jonathan Papelbon get away with ripping the Sox now and then, and Tedy Bruschi carved up the Patriots on ESPN last year. Don’t be so desperate.
Dennis Eckersley didn't hold back when it came time to criticize the Red Sox.
Dennis Eckersley didn't hold back when it came time to criticize the Red Sox.Stan Grossfeld/Globe Staff
⋅ When the Red Sox and their minions brag about how the Sox blasted through the luxury-tax threshold last season, remember this: According to the Globe’s Alex Speier, the Sox’ spending last season resulted in a tax penalty of “about $1 million.” Wow. One million. They can recover that adjusting the price of beer five cents higher. Do not be fooled.
⋅ You know the Patriots are on a roll when the best player on the other team is unavailable for Sunday’s game. It used to happen almost every week, which is why the one-game suspension of Bengals wideout Ja’Marr Chase makes it feel just like the old days around here.
⋅ Did you know that FIFA’s headquarters at Patriot Place is in the old TB12 training center? There’s a punchline in there somewhere.
⋅ April 2026 marks 50 years since the hottest Boston Marathon on record (”The Run for the Hoses”) was won by Jack Fultz, US Coast Guard veteran and Georgetown 1976 grad. Pacing himself perfectly through heat and humidity, Fultz won in 2 hours, 20 minutes, 19 seconds, launching a career of fitness-oriented service for a host of organizations, including the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. To celebrate this golden anniversary countdown, Fultz and his wife, Jan Ross (a DFCI mainstay for 30-plus years) are hosting casual “Fiftieth and Running” monthly gatherings at watering holes along the Marathon route. For information, email JackFultz76@gmail.com with the subject line “FAR Info” and your name in the message.
Jack Fultz won the Boston Marathon in blistering heat in 1976.
Jack Fultz won the Boston Marathon in blistering heat in 1976.Frank O'Brien/Globe Staff
⋅ We also are upon the 50th anniversary of the 1975 Harvard-Yale game, won by Harvard when Mike Lynch, of Channel 5 sports fame, kicked a 26-yard field goal with 33 seconds left to win the Ivy League title — Harvard, 10-7 — in front of 66,846 at the Yale Bowl. The student-manager of Harvard’s football team that season was Steve Ballmer, who today is owner of the Los Angeles Clippers.
⋅ We still think of the Chiefs as perhaps the top threat to the Patriots in the AFC. So what if they don’t even make the playoffs? Participants in five of the last six Super Bowls and seven straight AFC Championship games, the Chiefs are 5-5 going into Sunday’s big home game against the 8-2 Colts.
At 5-5, the Chiefs are in danger of missing the playoffs.
At 5-5, the Chiefs are in danger of missing the playoffs.Jeff Lewis/Associated Press
⋅ Meanwhile, we have the first-place, 7-3 Chicago Bears, who haven’t won a playoff game since the 2010 season.
⋅ The Giants and Jets come into this weekend with a combined record of 4-17. New York’s record for fewest wins by the two teams in a single season is six, when the Jets went 4-10 and the Giants 2-11-1 in 1973, when the NFL played 14-game seasons.
⋅ Don’t feel too sorry for New Orleans Pelicans coach Willie Green, who was fired after going 2-10 in the first month of the season. Basketball Hall of Famer Dolph Schayes was canned after coaching one game with the expansion Buffalo Braves in 1971. It was Schayes’s second year with the new team, and owner Paul Snyder gave Shayes the gate after a 123-90 opening-night loss to the SuperSonics, saying, “We weren’t happy with the team’s performance.” Johnny McCarthy was brought on board and the Braves went 22-59 the rest of the way.
The Pelicans fired coach Willie Green after a 2-10 start.
The Pelicans fired coach Willie Green after a 2-10 start.Gerald Herbert/Associated Press
⋅ UMass football dropped to 0-11 Tuesday in a rain-soaked, twice-delayed-by-lightning, 42-14 slog in Athens, Ohio. The Minutemen, ever at the mercy of school administration boobery, allowed 6.4 yards per rush and gave up 42 points to an Ohio team that completed only three passes. The madness ends (for this season, anyway) at home Tuesday against Bowling Green. UMass is the only one of 136 FBS schools without a victory.
⋅ It went under the radar in the middle of all the gambling scandals, but did you notice that Michigan State football was slapped with three years of NCAA probation and a $30,000 fine for “recruiting violations” under former coach Mel Tucker? Not to be a wiseguy, but how is that even possible these days? Are we supposed to believe there are still rules when it comes to recruiting players for Division 1 football programs? It’s like pretending that there are still requirements for big-time college players to attend class.
⋅ We need to see more of Ohio State senior backup quarterback Eli Brickhandler.
⋅ Great to hear that there’ll be summer baseball again at underrated LeLacheur Park in Lowell. The new Lowell Spinners are set to play next summer as a member of the Futures Collegiate Baseball League. The original Spinners were founded in 1996 and played 24 seasons as a Red Sox Single A affiliate featuring prospects Mookie Betts, Jackie Bradley Jr., Youkilis, and Papelbon.
⋅ You’re going to want to read “Heartland,” a well-researched new book on Larry Bird’s pre-Celtic days by Keith O’Brien, due out in March. No cooperation from Larry, per usual, but there’s good new material about Bird’s French Lick and Terre Haute days.
⋅ While I have no use for the Savannah Bananas, I love the Harlem Globetrotters. The ‘Trotters 100th anniversary tour comes to TD Garden Dec. 26 with shows at 2 and 7 p.m.
The Harlem Globetrotters return to TD Garden Dec. 26.
The Harlem Globetrotters return to TD Garden Dec. 26.
⋅ Quiz answers: 1. John Harbaugh, Ravens (12), Mike Tomlin, Steelers (12), Andy Reid, Chiefs (11), Sean McDermott, Bills (7), Sean McVay, Rams (6), Matt LaFleur, Packers (5); 2. David Pastrnak (2022-23, ’23-24, ’24-25), Adam Oates (1992-93, ’93-94), Rick Middleton (1980-81, ’83-84), Barry Pederson (1982-83, ’83-84).
Dan Shaughnessy is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at daniel.shaughnessy@globe.com. Follow him @dan_shaughnessy.