By: Kaleigh Longerbeam

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – For the first time in 33 years, the Cincinnati Bengals were one win away from winning the AFC Championship game and going to the Superbowl. Their opponent? The Kansas City Chiefs. With all odds seeming to be stacked against them, the Cincinnati Bengals were able to pull off their biggest win in over three decades and make it to the Superbowl.

The game, played in the Chiefs’ home stadium Arrowhead, started out rough for the Bengals. Kansas City scored a touchdown in the first quarter while Cincinnati only scored a field goal. By the second quarter, things were not looking up. 

Kansas City was able to gain a 21-3 lead against Cincinnati, leaving the team and its fans crushed and believing that there was no way to come back. The wait during halftime seemed to last a lifetime as fans anxiously waited to see how the second half would play out. Finally, the players headed back onto the field, and the third quarter began. 

Starting off strong with a field goal by kicker Evan McPherson and ending with a touchdown by wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase, Cincinnati was able to tie Kansas City’s score 21-21. However, it wasn’t time to rejoice just yet. The fourth quarter would put Cincinnati fans to the ultimate test.

The fourth quarter begins. McPherson started off strong for Cincinnati with a field goal, putting them ahead by three points at the 6:23 mark on the clock. At 6:04, however, Kansas City’s kicker Harrison Butker was able to score and tie the game again. No more points are scored during the fourth quarter. 

The game officially goes into overtime. The stakes are higher than ever before. All it takes is one score to decide who wins the 2022 AFC Championship title and goes to the Superbowl, the biggest game of the football season. Fans from both teams are on the edge of their seats in Arrowhead Stadium. People watching from home can’t take their eyes off of the TV. With nearly five minutes left, the game changes.

Cincinnati is in range for a field goal. It’s up to McPherson to make the kick. He kicks the football into the endzone, and the kick is good!

Cincinnati did it. For the first time in 33 years, they were going to the Superbowl. 

Arrowhead was electric. There was a wide range of emotions from elated to devastated, and the cheers seemed to ring out endlessly following Cincinnati’s win.

According to ESPN, Cincinnati’s coach Zac Taylor had some things to say about his team after the game. “It’s a special team that’s capable of doing special things,” he said, “We’ve said that from the get-go, whether people believed us or not,” he added. “We believed. So we’re not surprised.”

The odds seemed stacked against Cincinnati from the beginning, with them being seen as an underdog team while Kansas City was known for being a powerhouse. In fact, before the game started, the coin flip deciding who got the ball first landed in the Chiefs’ favor on tails. 

Cincinnati’s all-star quarterback, Joe Burrow, said, “Usually when you lose the coin flip to those guys, you’re going home,” “Our defense really stepped up and made plays in the second half. And on offense we made plays when we had to. I thought the offensive line played really well all day. We started running the ball there at the end and that’s exciting. Big win for us.” (ESPN).

This outcome proves that sometimes all you need is hope to believe that good things will happen. And in Cincinnati’s case, that rings true. After this historic win, it’s hard to not believe in the magic of the Cincinnati Bengals.

The activism gesture I want to focus on was very clear to me the moment I read the description for this assignment, and it is a gesture that has spoken to me since I initially saw it. The gesture I am talking about is Texans linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair’s “Stop The Genocide” message written on his eyeblack, bringing attention to the ongoing genocide in Gaza City, Palestine. This is a difficult topic for most people to discuss, and I find it admirable that he had the courage to stand up for his beliefs in an organization that does not tend to look fondly on those who do so.

Al-Shaair adorned this message on his eyeblack during the wildcard game against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday, Jan. 12, 2026, according to The Hilltop. He was fined $11,593 by the NFL for violating the NFL uniform and equipment rules by wearing eye black that contained a personal message. Despite receiving this fine, he wore the same message six days later on Jan. 18, but he reportedly took it off due to officials threatening to pull him out of the game against the New England Patriots. 

This is not the first time Al-Shaair has spoken up about Palestine, either. According to The Spun, the Texans linebacker has also worn “Free Palestine” cleats with the colors of the Palestinian flag and the number of those killed in Palestine. His cleats were a part of the “My Cause My Cleats” campaign, which aims to raise awareness for causes that NFL players are passionate about. Al-Shaair had worn the cleats two years in a row during training camp as of 2025.

I looked into several different media outlets to see how they covered Al-Shaair’s activism, including news sources from Israel, the state responsible for the genocide in Gaza City. I was expecting to find biased language in the places I looked, but all of the outlets used unbiased language and only reported the facts about Al-Shaair’s activism, including direct quotes from him and giving details about his ongoing support for those currently in Palestine. 

The sources I visited were: The Spun, The Hilltop, The Times of Israel, CBS Sports, FOX Sports, The Jerusalem Post, and Daily Mail. There are a lot more sources that covered this gesture of activism, such as The New York Times, NBC Sports, and USA Today. The sources I referenced for this story were the top results when I initially looked up Al-Shaair’s activism, which is interesting. Here are two charts of news source biases.

I chose this activism event because I remember how much it moved me when I first saw it happen back in Jan. 2026. As I said before, I find it admirable that Al-Shaair has spoken up so many times about the ongoing conflict when many are afraid to do so because of public backlash or countless other reasons. I am interested to see what statements the Texans linebacker makes in the future.

For this assignment, I logged into my LinkedIn account and looked up my sports penpal, Julia Mendelson. After looking through her profile and gathering a good idea of the jobs she’s had and the work she’s done, I reached out through email to follow up and provide details about the second part of this assignment. After she replied, I provided her with a few questions about her career. Here is the infographic I made:

The game I chose to report on is the Bengals vs. Panthers game in September 2024, because I saw it in person and it marked an important shift in the Bengals’ 2024 season. Being that I got the opportunity to watch it in the stadium with my family, it felt right to revisit that day and report on it. 

Source: Getty Images

The Bengals-Panthers game took place at 1 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024, at the Panthers’ Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, NC. The stakes were high: it was Week 4, and the Bengals had suffered three losses in a row while the Panthers were 1-2. Depending on who won, it could make or break either team’s season. Andy Dalton was the starting quarterback for the Panthers, and Joe Burrow was the starting quarterback for the Bengals. It was sure to be an interesting game, being that Dalton was the Bengals’ quarterback from 2011 to 2019. 

Cincinnati and Carolina spent most of the game being neck and neck with scoring: 

1st Quarter: CIN: 7  CAR: 0

2nd: Quarter: CIN: 21  CAR: 14

3rd Quarter: CIN: 31  CAR: 21

4th Quarter: CIN: 34  CAR: 24

Despite having an overall lead in all of the quarters, Cincinnati was close to losing it several times. In terms of statistics, Carolina had more time of possession (31:02) compared to Cincinnati (28:58) and had slightly more total yards, with 375 total yards compared to Cincinnati’s total of 373 yards. Carolina also had more total plays, with 70 in all whereas Cincinnati had 62 plays. Former Bengals QB Andy Dalton also put up impressive statistics against current Bengals QB Joe Burrow:

Burrow: 232 Passing yards, 2 Touchdowns, 1 Interception

Dalton: 220 Passing yards, 2 Touchdowns, 1 Interception

The results of the game were a huge relief for Bengals fans, ending in a win for Cincinnati. This was the Bengals’ first win of the season, putting them at 1-3, and it became the Panthers’ third loss of the season, also putting them at 1-3. Cincinnati was able to pull off a miraculous win despite already being up by 7 points (they have unfortunately lost with bigger leads in the past) with a 46-yard field goal by kicker Evan McPherson with less than 2 minutes left in the game, making the final score 34-24. 

Being able to experience the first win of the Bengals’ 2024 season in person after weeks of disappointment was a feeling I cannot put into words. Hearing the cheers of Cincinnati fans who had traveled to support their team for an away game was like being on top of the world. I remember everyone chanting the famous “Who Dey” chant while leaving the stadium, and feeling proud of what the Cincinnati Bengals were able to accomplish.

For my social media persona, I decided to take to Twitter (I refuse to call it X) and create a new account solely for this assignment. I did not want to use Instagram as I did not want people I know to find me on there, so I used Twitter because it feels less personal in my opinion. If I am being honest, I was a bit apprehensive about creating a social media persona because I am a very private person and I do not like having public accounts for other people to see. At the moment, I only have one introductory post up, but will expand on it in the future. These types of assignments I am not the best with, because I am used to using social media as a way to be more laid back and truly myself. In a way, I suppose that is also a persona in itself. On my main Twitter account, I talk about sports, but I am not used to people outside of my inner circle seeing what I am talking about. This is part of the reason why Twitter felt like the best option for me – I do not have to upload photos in every post/tweet, and there is less of a chance that those who I know personally will find me because I do not really follow any of them on there. I suppose making this account will push me out of my comfort zone, but it was still a little challenging. Here is my account.

Five years ago, in 2021, I did not have much care for sports as I do today. I would watch football in passing with my dad in the living room, keep up with how the season was going, and watch the Superbowl in February with my family. At the beginning of football season in 2022, however, things began to change. I had been keeping up with the happenings of the offseason and after the ending of the Superbowl that year, I was intrigued by the “underdog” story of the Cincinnati Bengals. Being that there’s no rules about what team you can choose to root for, I began following along with them. 

Currently, my media diet for sports consists of a variety of aspects. I keep up with almost all the NFL teams on social media (even ones I dislike) and I enjoy watching other sports (very) occasionally like basketball and hockey. My favorite basketball team is the Los Angeles Lakers and my favorite hockey team is the New Jersey Devils. During football season, I watch nearly every game, including college football, which consumes most of my week: Sunday, Monday, Thursday, and Saturdays are for football. Although my main focus and love has always been for football because I grew up with it always playing on my family’s TV and I love watching it now, I would like to learn more about different sports and open myself up to new worlds. 

In the next five years, I see myself expanding my knowledge of how different sports function, such as baseball, basketball, hockey, and tennis (which I have played in the past). I envision that I will not be closed off to only football and I would like to actively follow along with what is going on in other sports. I hope that I learn at least double of what I know now!

For my sports penpal assignment, I took to TikTok to find people (mostly women in sports) who I’m following as a way to reach out. I found multiple people with their emails listed in their bios, and ultimately reached out to four people in total. In the end, I chose to work with Julia Mendelson, being that my dream job would be to work as a social media assistant for a sports team. Here was my initial email that explained the assignment:

Julia Mendelson graduated from Miami University with a degree in Sport Leadership and Management. She currently works for the San Jose Sharks as a Content Engagement and Social Media Assistant and has previously worked in the AHL for the Colorado Eagles and in the NBA for the Denver Nuggets!