Possible playoff-bound Bengals lobby fans

One victory away from an unexpected playoff spot, the Cincinnati Bengals are already immersed in their biggest challenge of the week.

No, it’s not getting ready for the Baltimore Ravens. It’s trying to get somebody to come and watch.

The Bengals (9-6) drew another less-than-capacity crowd for their 23-16 win over the Arizona Cardinals on Saturday, a victory that secured Cincinnati’s third winning record in the last 21 years. With a victory Sunday against Baltimore, the Bengals would clinch the final AFC wild-card berth and have a chance to win a playoff game for the first time since the 1990 season.

But only 41,273 fans showed up on a sunny, 38-degree afternoon to watch the breakthrough victory Saturday. Paul Brown Stadium was more than one-third empty, and that’s been the norm all season. Players buoyed by the chance to make the playoffs wasted no time lobbying for an audience.

“I just want to thank the fans who were out there,” defensive tackle Domata Peko said. “We really felt you guys out there, and that helped us out big time. I really want to encourage all of the Cincinnati fans to come out and cheer us on as we try to make the playoffs.”

The franchise’s two decades of futility have brought about the strange situation: a team begging for fans as it closes in on the playoffs.

Paul Brown Stadium has been an ongoing point of contention as the region struggles to recover from the recession. Hamilton County voters approved a sales tax hike in 1996, and the Bengals signed a 30-year lease that gives them a lot of control over the facility and much of its revenues. The stadium came in way over budget — bad for taxpayers — and cost roughly $450 million when it opened in 2000.

Fans bristle that the family continues to get enormous benefits from the taxpayer-financed stadium while the team remains one of the league’s least successful. On Friday, the Brown family increased its control of the team by purchasing shares from one of the original franchise partners for more than $100 million. Forbes magazine reported that the Brown family paid in cash for the shares, estimated at 30% of the team. Forbes estimates that the team is worth $875 million.

The longstanding resentments showed in the team’s ticket sales this season. The Bengals have sold out only one of their seven home games, when the Pittsburgh Steelers brought thousands of fans. The Bengals have drawn the smallest crowds in the 65,500-seat stadium’s history, including an all-time low of 41,142 for a win over the Buffalo Bills.

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Detroit police said a Lions fan ran in front of a city bus and was killed during the team’s playoff-berth-clinching victory at Ford Field.

Sgt. Alan Quinn, a police spokesman, said Sunday that two men were on a street outside the downtown Detroit stadium around 5:40 p.m. EST Saturday, or about 90 minutes after kickoff.

Quinn says one of the men ran in front of a Detroit Department of Transportation bus and was killed. The victim was 21 and from Macomb Township, Mich. The man’s name has not been released.

Police Cmdr. Dwayne Love told WJBK-TV that the bus driver could not have avoided the accident.