Buffalo, N.Y. (WGR 550) - Bills and Cincinnati Bengals fans have enjoyed a long bromance dating back, at least, six years to the miraculous moment where Andy Dalton and Tyler Boyd helped Buffalo snap its 17-season playoff drought in 2017.
Since then, Bills fans started their tradition of donating to an opposing player's charity, throwing tons of money at Dalton's foundation.
Then just last season, the two teams went through as traumatic an experience as you can in sports. The night Bills safety Damar Hamlin went down after going into cardiac arrest, both teams' head coaches, players, and fans carried themselves with the utmost class required for a situation that serious.
By the time it was time for the Bills and Bengals to meet again in the playoffs, Hamlin was out of the hospital and on the way back to a normal life.
That allowed Bills and Bengals fans to feel more comfortable firing up the rivalry, and most of the nonsense has been sparked by the Bengals' faithful.
Before the Bills and Bengals played in the AFC Divisional Round, Cincinnati was running with a narrative that they were being slept on because the NFL was selling AFC Championship tickets between Buffalo and the Kansas City Chiefs in Atlanta.
Among many others on the Bengals, running back Joe Mixon said, "That s*** disrespectful," when speaking on the Bills selling tickets to the next week.
By the way, this was all happening while the Bengals, themselves, were selling potential Bengals-Jaguars AFC Championship Game tickets to their own season ticket holders!
Now it's a new forced narrative coming from the Bengals. Ja'Marr Chase and Tyler Boyd are now claiming the Bills are saying their playoff loss to the Bengals was because of the weather. What they're referencing is former Bills wide receiver Isaiah McKenzie saying on a podcast the Bills' offense had to do some different things because of the weather.
What a stretch by the Bengals wideouts to say the Bills are claiming it was the weather.
While all of this is happening, Bills and Bengals fans are engaging in more-and-more trash talk on social media. It's much more than I have ever seen between the Bills and Chiefs fanbases, for comparison.
This was always likely to become a rivalry. Big games and playoff games against each other will develop that naturally. However, it feels like the Bengals and their fans have hit the fast forward button on the rivalry.
Not a huge surprise, given the Bengals have a sign in their stadium that says "Please disrespect us." If there isn't real disrespect, they've proven they will make it up.
With that said, say something nice about the Bengals if you're on social media, because, honestly, that's the thing they seem to hate the most.
Losi and Gangi
