Bo is a master of… hexes. How the Bengals are poised break the curse of Bo Jackson vs. Raiders. Cincinnati Bengals Blog

CINCINNATI — Kevin Walker was chatting at an airport restaurant in Baltimore about a few years ago when a stranger interrupt him.

The former Cincinnati BengalsThe next step was clear to the linebacker. It was the same variation of “Hey, aren’t you the guy that tackled Bo Jackson and ended his football career?” that Walker has heard for the past three decades.

The stranger was right. For most of that span, Walker’s tackle in the 1991 AFC divisional playoff game against the Los Angeles Raiders was considered an unfortunate incident. It has become more alarming over the years. There is now evidence that Cincinnati was affected by the injury.

Since that tackle, 31 years ago the Bengals have never won a playoff match. The Bengals have a chance to break the infamous “Curse of Bo Jackson” when they host the Raiders, now based in Las Vegas, in an AFC wild-card game Saturday (4:30 p.m. ET, NBC).

The curse is difficult to pinpoint. However, the curse is well-known for its seven appearances in postseason without a win.

“People are always looking for explanations,” said Cincinnati native Mo Egger, who hosts the afternoon radio show on the only sports station in town. “It’s never enough in sports to say, ‘Well that happened and this city is unlucky,’ or ‘this team is unlucky.’

“In an effort to find something to blame, they have reached back to Kevin Walker tackling Bo Jackson.”

It all seemed insignificant at the time. Walker pursued Jackson across the field, and after a 34 yard carry, dragged Jackson down from behind. When Walker crossed paths with Jackson after the Raiders’ 20-10 victory that day, Walker recalled Jackson saying the hip was sore, but he didn’t feel like it was a major injury. Little did anyone know that one of America’s biggest pop culture icons was done playing football at 28 years old.

A curse may be the best way to describe a series of calamities for some people in Cincinnati.

Here are some examples:

• The next 15 seasons will not see any playoff appearances

• 1995 No. 1995 No.

• Quarterback Carson Palmer’s knee injury in the 2005 wild-card loss to the Steelers

• The dramatic, penalty-filled end to the Steelers’ wild-card loss in January 2016.

That loss to the Steelers, which featured the Bengals committing four turnovers and eight penalties for 79 yards, was Cincinnati’s most recent postseason appearance and the point when the “Curse of Bo Jackson” started to gain traction around the city.

Walker, who has taken all the ordeal in stride is surprised by the youth of others who attribute the curse to him.

“I’m like, ‘Dude, you weren’t even alive,’” Walker told ESPN. “How do you talk so candidly about it? It just blows me away.”

In fact, just three players on the Bengals’ active roster — cornerback Michael ThomasPunter Kevin HuberThe long-snapper Clark Harris — were alive at the time of Cincinnati’s last playoff victory. Bengals coach Zac Taylor was 7 years old, and he wasn’t aware any kind of curse hovered over the team when asked about it last week.

But the coach and his players are aware of the team’s lackluster playoff history.

“I grew up in Ohio,” Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow said. “I knew exactly everything that everybody says about the Bengals. [I] had a bunch of friends that are Bengals fans growing up, and I knew they hadn’t won a playoff game in a long time.”

It might be easier to understand the real reason why the Bengals have failed. Since founder Paul Brown died in August 1991, seven months after the loss to the Raiders, the Bengals haven’t been good enough, or in the case of their last playoff game — disciplined enough.

Fans have argued Cincinnati also hasn’t been aggressive enough in trying to field a winner. This has changed over the last three years.

The Bengals have been undergoing a significant transformation since Taylor was hired before the 2019 season. They released or traded players at the core of the team’s five straight playoff runs from 2011 to 2015, uncharacteristically spent money on external free agents in the 2020 offseason and drafted Burrow with the No. The 2020 draft will be the 1st overall pick.

The three-year rebuild produced an AFC North title and the team’s first 10-win season since 2015. Taylor, who does not believe in curses, said this year’s group doesn’t carry the baggage of previous failures.

“We’re just way more focused on 2021, the present and going forward,” Taylor said. “So it’s OK to be aware of what’s gone on previously, but that’s not anything that takes up our time or our focus.”

The Bengals may be in the best place to end any “curse.” Cincinnati beat the Raiders earlier this season and ended the regular season by winning three straight games before resting starters – and losing – in the regular-season finale. Cincinnati opened the week with 6.5 points in favor of Las Vegas.

Egger, who has lived and worked in Cincinnati his whole life, said with Burrow leading the Bengals, there’s a belief around the city that the curse will be lifted soon.

“The most frustrating [thing] with that franchise,” Egger said, “has been we focus so much on winning one stupid playoff game that I wish they would just do that so we can actually talk about winning titles the way they do in other cities.”

Some have called into Egger’s radio show and suggested Jackson, who couldn’t be reached for comment and never publicly spoke on the alleged curse, come to Cincinnati to break the spell. Walker, 56 has also heard similar sentiments.

Walker settled in Cincinnati after his 1992 injury ended his playing career. The rest of his life was buried away. As a computer reseller, he said he’ll work with clients for years before they learn of his NFL experience. Similar experiences were shared by his three children as a child. He was amazed to learn Walker was a Bengali former and then discover the mementos hidden in his basement when one of his twin boys was in elementary school.

Walker is planning to find a place to watch Saturday’s game. He has never felt the curse of Bo Jackson’s tackle 31 years ago.

He also knows Cincinnatians are sick and tired of hearing it.

“They want to get a win,” Walker said. “They certainly do want to put that curse to bed.”