The NFL breeds surprises and nurtures parity like no other professional sports league. Against that ever-changing backdrop, the Cincinnati Bengals defeating the Pittsburgh Steelers for the second time this season did little more than raise eyebrows.

Nevermind that the Steelers are the defending Super Bowl champions, and that the Bengals are hardly a model franchise. The NFL dynamic is amorphous and fluid to the point where identities can be shed like a locust’s shell.

The Bengals’ identity, before this season, was defined by off-field trouble, Carson Palmer injuries, Chad Ochocinco’s shenanigans and losing. Lots and lots of losing. The talk from camp before this season was that a new identity was being crafted — but of course talking is easy. Actually stepping up and competing with Pittsburgh and Baltimore seemed a much more difficult matter.

But, lo and behold, the pre-season talk has proved prophetic. The Bengals are undefeated in the AFC North, leading the division. All that talk of a new identity now seems much more than that.

Which makes the Bengals’ interest in former Chiefs running back Larry Johnson all the more curious. In fact, if I’m being objective, it’s probably downright stupid. But objectivity, regarding this situation, is tough for me. I am, after all, someone who has written a decidedly pro-Larry Johnson column in these pages before. Through his pouting and bouts of surly misbehavior, I stood by him. So to damn him now, to say that he doesn’t have a place in the NFL, would necessitate stark vacillating on my part.

But oh well. When you’re wrong, you’re wrong. And on Larry Johnson, I was wrong.

Cincinnati may need a running back in the short term. But in Larry Johnson, they’d get a lot of baggage. They’d get a man with a history of behavior that is anything but conducive to a positive locker room environment. Johnson has repeatedly ripped teammates and coaches and scapegoated anyone to avoid shouldering blame himself. They’d get a man who has had run-ins with the law, regarding several instances of alleged violence toward women. And if Johnson’s actions speak to misogyny, then his words, of late, make him appear a homophobe.

But the NFL, at the end of the day, is a business. It’s ruled by results, not sentiment. And so Johnson’s personal faults could, perhaps, be overlooked — if he were still more than a shadow of his former self on the field. Where LJ used to be a bruising downhill runner, he’s now tepid and cautious. His statistics speak to his decline. But perhaps most alarming of all, in a few short days, Johnson will be 30 years old — the age at which even the best running backs become dispensable. And Johnson hasn’t been among the league’s best for a while.

So Cincinnati, don’t make the same mistake I, and much of Kansas City, did. You’re in a great position right now — you don’t need to fall back into old habits. And you certainly don’t need Larry Johnson.

— Edited by Amanda Thompson