Boomer Esiason had been in decline for a long time before 1997. For the most part, this was brought on by his son Gunnar being diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis. Boomer contemplated quitting when he got this news,. In the end, he decided to fight on, but his play on the field was never the same. That is, until he got back to Cincinnati.
He'd struggled in New York. He'd struggled in Arizona, but then he came back to the Cincinnati Bengals to be the backup for 1997, and looked like a changed man. Finally inserted back into the starting lineup for the final month of the season in relief of the sudden decline of Jeff Blake, Boomer gave this team the best month of QB play we got throughout the entirety of the 1990s in December of 1997, and then dipped to go take the MNF deal.
Everybody wants the final month of an athlete's career to be one of their best. It's a much better story that way, but a lot of the time it goes the way it did for Matt Ryan, getting benched and falling out of the league quietly. That's not the case for Boomer though. In typical fashion for him, he went out with the loudest bang he could muster, which had Cincinnati fans begging him to stay on for 1998. He didn't do it, but the fact that his fans wanted him to stay (something that can't be said about most retirement tours) makes this one of the best retirement runs ever.
Pictured is Boomer and Gunnar, in the wake of a win that saw old man Boomer Esiason outduel Mark Brunell. A win the 1990s Bengals would've never gotten with anybody else at QB.
9 comments
Man that was a fun month or so. I was at every home game that season and it was such a breath of fresh air. Thanks Boomer, great memories.
I was so bummed when he retired, I was getting gassed up to see what he could do in 98
If I remember, he was considering coming back in ’98 but Brown wouldn’t match the MNF offer. I could be wrong though. A full season of him with Dillon would have been awesome though
Man that was my first year I watched the bengals as a kid. I remember crying on the last game lol
That tiger logo is soo goood ðŸ˜ðŸ˜ðŸ˜
I witnessed it and for a few weeks i fantasized about Boomer coming back to Cincy for a couple more years and getting us a ring. He gave that ‘97 team a huge morality boost. I was sad to see him retire.
If Boomer comes back for ’98, the Bengals aren’t in position to select Akili Smith. Win-Win.
I was a 10 year old kid, was at every home game that year, Boomer is my hero!
Dillon’s 246 that set the rookie rushing yard in a game record {at the time} was with Boomer in primetime. Ken Anderson was QB coach. Kenny knew it was Boomer’s time to shine in 1985, so they got along very well.
On the other spectrum, Dillons 278 all time record {at the time} in 2000 was done with Akili going 2-9, and Scott Mitchell 0-5 with Warrick getting a 77 yard TD run as well.
What I could never understand with all the great HB’s the team has had, the Bengals are still the only active team to not have a guy hit 1500 yards in a season.
It was Boomer who organized the players to block the bus during the 1987 strike with the “scabs” from getting into the player entrance.
After Klingler was drafted, Boomer said does he play defense ?
Lastly, he had an office at World Trade center North with Cantor Fitzgerald. He lost his best friend that day.
This is a picture taken with a Bengals helmet on top of 1 of the destroyed ambulances. It was a picture I saved the next day scrolling. I could not find it doing a search this evening, so I fired up the external hard drive to share with those that want it.
Go Bengals !!
https://preview.redd.it/iufxyy0crave1.jpeg?width=540&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=69399a49ff3ba9d14c7cbe38486724c7b00d0baf