The Cincinnati Bengals are not playing in the Super Bowl on Sunday night because, in large part, they couldn’t keep their emotions in check.

They hit Kansas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes out of bounds on a scramble late in the AFC Championship Game, and the 15 yards resulting from the personal foul penalty changed a likely unmakeable field goal to a makeable one, which the Chiefs converted for the three-point win.

The careless, stupid, undisciplined hit was the product of all the chirping and chattering they did about this, that and the other all week leading up to the game. Instead of stepping in and telling his guys to shut up and focus on their preparation, which he should have done, Bengals head coach Zac Taylor, who otherwise did an outstanding job again this season, actually fed into it himself. Even the Cincinnati mayor got involved — heavily so.

All that carried over to the game and, at the end, made that Bengals tackler play out of control when it mattered the most.

It was obviously a bad move — a very bad move — because it cost Cincinnati a chance to win and advance to the Super Bowl for the second consecutive season.

More disciplined teams — big-boy teams, as it were — don’t imbibe in that high-schoolish stuff. The Chiefs didn’t do it hearing into the Bengals game and they aren’t doing it in preparation for the Philadelphia Eagles, who also are keeping their mouths shut other than to say all the right things.

This kind of self-control is called class.

Hopefully Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski, his players and even the Cleveland mayor were watching all this nonsense and learning from it, for when the team is someday competing for an AFC title, it had better just shut up and play.

Steve King

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Browns sign DT Michael Dwumfour to reserve/futures contract

BEREA, Ohio — The Cleveland Browns have signed DT Michael Dwumfour (pronounced DWUM-fore) to a reserve/futures contract.

Dwumfour (6-1, 296) is in his second season out of Rutgers. He originally entered the NFL after signing with the New York Jets as an undrafted free agent in 2021. Over the course of his career, he has appeared in 12 career games (one start) with the Houston Texans (10 from 2021-22) and San Francisco 49ers (two in 2022). Dwumfour’s amassed 13 total tackles, a half-sack and one fumble recovery. He is a native of Scotch Plains, N.J.