The Bengals react to an Ochocinco-free year: “Different guys are distractions in different ways”

The Bengals may have lost, 31-10, to the Texans yesterday, closing out their 2011. But it was a successful year. A team so many figured would finish 2-14 actually made the playoffs. That’s impressive. And they did it without so many big names from 2010, including WR Chad Ochocinco. He was on the Patriots this year, averaging 1 catch per game. After the game yesterday, I talked to a few Bengals about the differences this season. And all pointed to a far, far more together group. They didn’t outwardly call out Ochocinco. But it doesn’t take a genius to figure out they liked this year’s team much better. Allow tackle Andrew Whitworth to explain. “I think that we finally learned how to play as a team,” Whitworth said. “Are we there yet? No. Are we young? Yes. But we learned to play as a team, team football, and that’s playing all three areas and getting a whole lot better. That was one thing that was different this year. We played that way...