A full decade of football futility surrounded the city of Cincinnati. The 1990s came and went with only one playoff appearance at the onset of the decade, and the Bengals had cemented their place as one of the worst-run franchises in all of professional sports.
The team was on their fourth head coach from 1990 to 2001, as well as the umpteenth quarterback under center. Jeff Blake was the star of of the chorus line of signal-callers, if one is so inclined to call No. 8 such, with the path littered by names like Jay Schroeder, Paul Justin, Scott Mitchell, David Klingler and Akili Smith.