Is the Bandwagon Broken? Steelers and Bengals Fans Prepare!

There are three different types of fans in the NFL.

One, the true fan. The true fan is there through the thick and thin, the good and the bad, the ups and the downs. Cincy fans that have been Cincy fans for their lives, or at least the last 10 years, are currently having the time of their lives. Congrats to all of you, enjoy the ride, you deserve it!

Two, the spectator fan. As Colin Cowherd of ESPN Radio stated a couple weeks ago, he does not have one specific team he roots for. Each year, he takes the team that is doing good, and follows them. According to him, this way he never has the real ups and downs of cheering for one team.

Three, the bandwagon hoppers. These, in my opinion, are the dregs of society. They cheer for a team as long as they are doing good, but as soon as things start to go south, they quickly bail on the team, and act as if they never cheered for them in the first place. They then pick another "flavor of the month," and stand behind them, as if it was always their team.

Even though Steeler Nation is strong, we have more than our fair share of these bandwagon hoppers. It comes with the territory of being one of the elite teams. New England, Indianapolis, and Dallas have the most action on these bandwagons, along with the Steelers. It is just hard to figure out who these hoppers are when your team is normally good.

Now that the Bengals have swept the season series with the Steelers, it is starting to become clear that the bandwagon of the Steelers is starting to clear up. People are starting to jump off, and I think that is fantastic!

Now, don't get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with being critical of your team when they are not doing good. I myself just wrote an article on how Bruce Arians needs to be fired . I also know the Steelers are not going to fire him, which now presents me with two options. One—hop off the bandwagon, or two—accept the fact that my team has a deficiency that they are going to have to overcome in order to win the Super Bowl again.

I put myself in that second category. Am I certain that the Steelers are going to the Super Bowl? Absolutely not. Am I saying they don't have a chance? Not at all.

All of those people, and you know who you are, that are saying the Steelers CAN NOT make it to the Super Bowl, are in the first group. To look at the Steelers and say that there are teams that we just can not defeat, then you obviously have not watched this team, and have no idea of how the NFL works.

On any given Sunday, the Steelers can beat any team in the NFL.

I am not just saying this because I am a fan of the Steelers; watch ESPN. Mark Schreleth said the same thing. In describing how the Bengals are playing, he said they are successful because they are playing LIKE THE STEELERS!

The fact is, you can be a fan and be a critic at the same time. Fans of the Browns are a perfect example of this. As much flack as Browns fans get for their team being so bad, there is not a team in the NFL that has fans as loyal as those in Cleveland. They hope for their team to be good, and even though they are not, they still write their articles, and cheer for their team.

The big difference between being a fan and being a realistic fan, is to know what your team is really capable of. Browns fans can look at their team and hope that they will turn it around. Steelers fans look at their team and see the potential to be great.

My only point is to say, if you are a REAL fan, look at the Steelers and their potential and respect the fact that this team does have the ability to go on the road, and beat any team in the NFL. Just like they did when they won Super Bowl XL.

If you can't do that, then you can count yourself as a bandwagon hopper. Just do yourselves a favor, don't go and spend too much money on Cincinnati Bengals attire; they have yet to prove what the Steelers have—that they can be champions—even slotted as a wild card team.