This previous weekend, on Sunday, January 29, 2023, the Kansas City Chiefs beat the Cincinnati Bengals in the AFC Championship Game to move on to play the Philadelphia Eagles in the Super Bowl, who defeated the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC championship game. There were many significant storylines this past weekend, the San Francisco 49ers losing their quarterbacks Jimmy Garropolo and Brock Purdy to injuries and questionable officiating when the Kansas City Chiefs played the Cincinnati Bengals. However, the most talked about event is Cincinnati Bengals defensive end and the former University of Texas defensive end Joseph Ossai making a costly mistake in the game against the Kansas City Chiefs, leading to him crying his eyes out. The cameras then pa5nned immediately on Ossai, and he was comforted by Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow, Cincinnati Bengals head coach Zac Taylor, and many of his teammates. When the Bengals headed into their locker room once the game was over, Germaine Pratt, a teammate of Ossai’s, yelled, “Why would you touch the quarterback!” Pratt is a North Carolina native who played High School football at High Point Central in High Point, North Carolina and went on to play at college football powerhouse NC State from 2014 to 2018 and made first team all ACC in 2018. In the third round of the 2019 NFL draft, with the seventy-second pick, the Cincinnati Bengals selected Pratt, the eighth linebacker drafted in the 2019 NFL draft. Many defended Pratt and said he is simply showing how passionate about the game of football he is, how fierce of a competitor he is, and how mad he is about the fact that he’s on the losing team. Many others said Pratt’s bullying Ossai and being unfair to him. Despite this unfortunate loss, the Cincinnati Bengals are going into next season as a Super Bowl contender, as they’re one of the NFL’s best teams. Ossai and Pratt are talented, hard-working, and young, and there’s a very high chance they’ll put this behind them and apply the lessons they learned from the loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. These two young and talented defensive players aren’t going to be free agents this offseason and will be in Cincinnati next season, which means their talent and work ethic stays put in Cincinnati.
Germaine Pratt of the Cincinnati Bengals gains notoriety for screaming at teammate Joseph Ossai
