When Rudi Johnson and the rest of about 15 Bengals legends are introduced to the Paul Brown Stadium crowd before Sunday’s game (1 p.m.-Cincinnati’s Channel 19), the chant will no doubt start somewhere.
“Rudi, Rudi, Rudi.”
That will take you back about a decade and more, back when the Bengals not only socked away wins with the running game but relished the very act of getting four yards per carry. There is no coincidence that while the 5-10, 220-pound Johnson pin-balled his way to the franchise’s two greatest rushing seasons in 2004 and 2005 the Bengals finally contended in the new AFC North and won it in 2005.