How miserable was Sunday for Ohio's professional football teams?
When it comes to being a fan of Ohio's professional football teams, there have been many bad days. Sunday though brought a new level of misery. How bad was it for Bengals and Browns fans? Taking a sledgehammer to the ankle from Kathy Bates in 'Misery' would have been more pleasant.
Cleveland saw its two game winning streak come crashing down with a 24-6 loss at previously-winless Jacksonville while Cincinnati was shutout for the first time since 2009 in a 27-0 loss at Indianapolis.
This marked the 158th Sunday since 1999 that both teams have played on the same day and the 67th occasion that both fan bases have been angry the following day. For those wondering, there have been only 17 times that both have won on the same day. It happened earlier this season when both teams won on Sunday in Week 2 -- the Bengals beat the Falcons while the Browns defeated the Saints.
Here are five more miserable facts to point out how bad Sunday was for the Browns and Bengals per research conducted on STATS LLC and Pro Football Reference:
* It was the first time since 2008 that neither team could score a touchdown. On Dec. 7 the Browns lost to the Titans 28-9 while the Bengals were held to a field goal ... in Indianapolis en route to a 35-3 loss.
* You have to go back to 1986 to find the last time the Browns had a winning record after six weeks and lost to a winless team. That year the Browns were 4-2 and lost to the 0-6 Packers 17-14 at old Municipal Stadium. In 2005, Houston was 0-6 and got their first win against the 2-4 Browns.
* Jacksonville's Blake Bortles became the first quarterback since 2000 to have a passer rating under 50, throw three or more interceptions and beat the Browns. The last time it happened was when the Titans' Steve McNair had a rating of 49.8 and threw four interceptions in a 24-10 win on Nov. 19, 2000. Bortles threw three interceptions and had a rating of 40.3.
* Sunday's loss to the Colts marked only the second time in franchise history the Bengals have gained less than 150 yards in total offense (135) and allowed more than 500 (506). The previous time was Cincinnati's first season in the AFL against Oakland when they gained 148 and allowed 604 in a 34-0 loss on Nov. 24, 1968.
* Struggling in October in even-numbered years is nothing new to the Bengals. In the Marvin Lewis era they are 2-19-1. In 2004 the Bengals were1-3, '06 1-3, '08 0-4, '10 0-4, '12 0-3 and 0-2-1 this year.
