Bengals flirt dangerously with history, post video of player wiping cleats with Terrible Towel

PITTSBURGH — With the Pittsburgh Steelers the only remaining unbeaten team in the NFL, each opponent is sure to throw their best at the black and gold in the hopes of taking them down.

This week, the Steelers play their divisional foe, the Cincinnati Bengals. On Twitter, the team posted a video of former wide receiver TJ Houshmandzadeh wiping his cleats with a Terrible Towel.

The video is from the 2005 season, when the Bengals beat the Steelers at Heinz Field in Game 13. Houshmandzadeh scored a touchdown and to celebrate, he wiped his cleats with the towel. That season, the Bengals were predicted to have a decent postseason showing.

However, something Steelers fans know too well took hold: the Curse of the Terrible Towel. The Bengals would lose three out of their last five regular season games. They then faced the Steelers in the first round of the playoffs and lost 31-17. Quarterback Carson Palmer suffered a critical knee injury, and many analysts said he was never the same player.

After Houshmandzadeh’s touchdown celebration, the Steelers never lost another game that season, eventually beating the Seattle Seahawks to win Super Bowl XL.

Coincidentally, or maybe not, a similar situation unfolded several seasons later. At the end of a Week 16 win over the Steelers, Tennessee Titans' running back LenDale White stomped a Terrible Towel in front of the cameras. The Titans were 13-2 that season and ended up losing the last two games of the regular season, and then losing to the Baltimore Ravens in the playoffs.

The Steelers, meanwhile, went on to win another Super Bowl, beating the Arizona Cardinals. The Cardinals also suffered the wrath of the curse after Phoenix mayor Phil Gordon blew his nose in a Terrible Towel and then stomped on it. He apologized, but it appeared the Terrible Towel gods didn’t much care.

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