CINCINNATI -- Like many in Southwest Ohio, Jeremy Hill watched the scenes that played out on the opposite end of the state last month with a little envy.

Days after the Cleveland Cavaliers won their city's first professional sports championship in more than 50 years, Hill watched in awe as clips of the jam-packed parade route in downtown Cleveland played out on his television screen. The estimated 1.3 million people who filled the streets were punch-drunk with a euphoria that only a once long-suffering sports fan could understand.

Hill's hope is that next February he can help the people in his current city experience similar revelry.

"With Cincinnati," the Bengals running back said to ESPN earlier this month, "that's something that we definitely need for our city."

Why exactly? Because of the past 25 years, the fourth-year player said.

The Bengals haven't won a playoff game since January 1991, and only about three months before that, the Cincinnati Reds won their most recent World Series. At points within the past two and a half decades, both teams have been among the worst teams in their respective leagues, with the Bengals even posting 14 sub-.500 seasons in that stretch. It also should be noted that the franchise has flirted with the Lombardi trophy twice in its earlier history, coming a total of nine points short of beating the San Francisco 49ers in two Super Bowls.

Although Hill, who was born in 1992, has never seen a Bengals playoff win, he's anxious to finally see that happen.

"It's not a burden, but it kind of weighs on the culture and the energy [of the city]," Hill said of this current playoff-wins drought. "If you can get over that hump, it definitely changes everything."

The Bengals lost a fifth straight wild-card round playoff game this past January after a late fumble by Hill put the ball back in the Pittsburgh Steelers’ hands in time for a dramatic, last-minute, come-from-behind scoring drive. A Pittsburgh field goal with 14 seconds left sent the Bengals to an 18-16 loss and their eighth straight early postseason exit. Hill's mission this season is to avenge his crucial turnover, and to give Bengals fans a taste of what Cleveland sports fans experienced with the Cavaliers' championship this summer.

"You saw how much it meant to the fans, to the people, to the city, to the state," Hill said. "It affected the culture. It uplifts everyone. No matter what you're going through, no matter what, it's a pleasant distraction.

"It's for the city, it's for the fans, for the kids, for bragging rights. It's all of those things. When you see that and you see the elation and you see the people and you see how many people came out, that's definitely something that motivates you to accomplish the same for your city, for your fans, for the people who pay their money to support you."