NEW ORLEANS _ Jon Kitna, the last Bengal before Joe Burrow to be named the Associated Press NFL Comeback Player of the Year, wouldn't be eligible under this year's rules.
Now a player must come back from injury, and Kitna is OK with that as the league descends here this week to hand out its annual awards. Burrow could become the first player in history to win The Comeback twice with the same team.
"I always like having parameters, so you know what you're voting for and what is the standard. I think it's good they've done that," Kitna says. "When I won it, I think my statement was, 'I'm not sure what I came back from.'"
Last year, Joe Flacco won it because he came back from sitting on the couch before leading the Browns into the playoffs. A quarter of a century before that in 1998, Doug Flutie came back from being too short. Ten years later, Chad Pennington won his second Comeback because when the Jets cut him in training camp after trading for Brett Favre, Pennington came back to lead the Dolphins to the playoffs.
In 2003?
Kitna won more or less a team award as the pilot of rookie head coach Marvin Lewis' rebuilding project that saw the Bengals make the league's biggest turnaround from 2-14 in 2002 to an 8-8 playoff run that didn't die until the final game of the season.
Indeed, the first thing Kitna thinks about from that season is a sack he took on the last play of the first half in the last game of the season at Paycor Stadium from the Cleveland 8 in a game the Browns led, 13-7, at halftime, and went on to win, 22-14.
Never mind someone named Lee Suggs ran for 186 of his 1,074 career yards to lead Cleveland.
"I thought it was a special time. It was good to see the city excited about the Bengals," Kitna says. "Marvin and his staff did a great job. Very cohesive. Marvin's picture was clear, his vision was right."
Lewis' first major personnel decision was to start Kitna instead of overall No.1 pick Carson Palmer in order to get wins for a young, talented roster that needed the confidence. When they started 1-4, Lewis called in Kitna to tell him the coaches had gone over the tape, they felt he was playing winning football, and that they needed to do better around him.
"A lot of people felt it was time for Carson," Kitna says. "Kenny Zampese (quarterbacks coach) told me, 'We haven't been that great around you, but we need you not to add to problems if problems arise.' Just be a little smarter with the football."
Kitna then led six wins in the next seven games throwing 16 touchdown passes (his 2002 total) and just three interceptions and sent them into December at 7-5 on his 18-yard touchdown pass to tight end Matt Schobel with 13 seconds left for a win in Pittsburgh.
"I think that's probably right. The (Comeback) award was an award for what we did as a team," says Kitna, whose passer rating of 87.5 was a mere eight points higher than in 2002.
Some 20 years later, Kitna, the head coach of Greater Cincinnati's Lakota East High School, is all in on Burrow, but not as the Comeback Player.
"I look at MVP as someone who would have the most negative impact if he wasn't playing for his team," Kitna says. "What they did offensively this year with him isn't normal. If I had a vote, I'd vote for him."
Burrow has said he doesn't expect to win MVP, and while he's not immersed in the idea of being a Comeback Player, he's certainly indicated that he's proud his hard work required to come back from wrist surgery is being recognized.
"I'm really impressed with the way he goes about his business every single day," Kitna says. "He's out there trying to make the state of Ohio and the city of Cincinnati proud."
SLANTS AND SCREENS
Speaking of endorsements, new Bengals defensive coordinator Al Golden got one from a player who hopes to re-join him in free agency. Backup linebacker Joe Bachie, who has played with the club the last four seasons, began his Bengals career in the last season Golden was the linebackers coach.
Bachie has even a little more insight than that. Golden's linebackers coach at Notre Dame, Max Bullough, just happens to be Bachie's brother-in-law. Not to mention the grandson of Bengals Super Bowl defensive coordinator Hank Bullough.
"Al is a workaholic, man. You appreciate that from a coach," Bachie says. "I think the big thing people don't know about Al is he's one of the best in-game adjustment guys I've been around. During the week, it was like you feel a little stress from Al. But once he gets into game day, his thing was no stress."
Bachie remembers the first game he played a ton in '21. He got the call when Logan Wilson and Markus Bailey went down against the Chargers and nobody told him to go in. He just figured he was next man up. He looked over to the sidelines and Golden was giving him a confident thumbs-up.
"I've never seen a guy flip a switch like that and just go through the game, not nonchalant, but very even keel," Bachie said. "He's the kind of guy who instilled confidence in everybody in that room. Makes you play a little more free and a little more loose."
But Bachie also stands by Golden's predecessor Lou Anarumo.
"Lou was great. All those guys were great," Bachie says of the changes. "But like Zac (Taylor) said, sometimes you just need a little re-boot. Hopefully, I'll be a part of it next year." …
Ja’Marr Chase went off in Sunday’s Pro Bowl, another fine tradition established by the Bengals' long great line of wide receivers.
Chase had three touchdowns in the flag football game, one thrown to him by Burrow. Back in 2013, when they couldn't decide what the all-star game should be and didn't really play tackle or flag in an awkward mix of both, A.J. Green caught three touchdowns, two from Peyton Manning and one from Andrew Luck as he finished with seven catches for 119 yards …
In the 2004 game, after the '03 season, Chad Johnson had 156 yards, which at the time was the second-most in the game's history. Johnson had a 90-yard touchdown from quarterback Steve McNair, the second-longest completion in a Pro Bowl at the time.
In the Pro Bowl following the 2006 season, Johnson had a 42-yard touchdown from teammate Carson Palmer. He also drew a 39-yard interference penalty on a ball from Palmer to set up the AFC's winning field goal …
Kitna has to laugh. The boys from '03 are both high school head coaches. But he is not for a Kit Carson Bowl at Paycor Stadium against Palmer's national power alma mater of Santa Margarita Catholic High School in Southern California.
"No, he's in a different league," Kitna says. "He should get in touch with Jonathan Hayes."
Hayes, their tight ends coach with the Bengals, is the athletic director at Cincinnati's Moeller High School …
