TDBH: P.B. seethes even as Bengals clinch Central

HOUSTON - Even though his team wins today’s season finale in the flat atmosphere of the Astrodome that isn’t as quite as dead as the 1-13 Oilers team it hosts by a 27-24 count, Bengals head coach Paul Brown is livid. He can’t believe his team nearly kicked away the AFC Central title and Sunday’s first-round playoff berth at the Orange Bowl against Don Shula’s defending Super Bowl champion Dolphins. Marty Williams of the Dayton Daily News reports that after a policeman shuts the door to the locker room during the cooling-off period before the media is allowed in, Brown can be heard delivering a screaming lecture. “He blistered us and we deserved it,” says center Bob Johnson. “We just weren’t ready to play.” “The pressure was on us,” Brown says. “They had two highly emotional men who were trying to show the old man he had made a mistake in trading them. And since this was probably Sid Gillman’s last game as coach, so I’m sure his players were trying to let him go out with a win. I could see all those things, but all our guys saw was their 1-12 record. That’s why I took a few minutes after the game to make a point. Maybe they’ll listen to me next time.”

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