There are times when the importance of professional sports is shrunk to its rightful size, something no bigger than the size of your television screen.
One of those moments came Sunday afternoon in Baltimore. The surprising Cincinnati Bengals beat the Ravens 17-14 at M&T Bank Stadium and took sole possession of first place in the AFC North, and gave the game ball to defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer, whose wife, Vikki, died suddenly on Thursday at the age of 50.
Three days after the death of his wife, Zimmer was in Baltimore with his son, a daughter, his father Bill - an Illinois Hall of Fame coach - and his new extended family, the Bengals.
Mike Zimmer is in his second year in Cincinnati, after coming over from Dallas. With the Bengals, he has molded a group of misfits, castoffs and bona fide young talent into one of the league's better defenses. And Bengals fans will tell you how often the words, 'Bengals', 'defense' and 'better' have resided in the same sentence - about as often as the Bengals are 4-1 after the first five games of the season.
When the Bengals clinched their fourth victory in a row on Sunday with yet another Carson Palmer-engineered late-game drive and Leon Hall's last-second interception, Bengals players and coaches encircled Zimmer and gave him hugs and pats on the back along the Bengals' sideline.
Head coach Marvin Lewis awarded Zimmer the game ball in an emotional Bengals postgame locker room. The players huddled around Zimmer once more and jumped up and down.
"My wife loves all of you," Zimmer said to the team. "Win or lose, she's proud of you. And I just appreciate all of your effort."
Vikki Zimmer baked cookies for the players, and coach Zimmer brought them to team meetings. She appeared in an episode of "Hard Knocks: Training Camp" and talked about making cookies with healthy ingredients.
The Zimmers were married 27 years. They raised two daughters and a son, Adam Zimmer, a defensive assistant with the New Orleans Saints.
The cause of death is not known. Funeral arrangements are pending.
Just days after he lost the love of his life, the Bengals' defensive coordinator had the job of focusing on the high-scoring Ravens, while his heart surely had to be elsewhere.
This was Mike Zimmer's choice. The Bengals backed him, and they supported him and surrounded him with love. On Sunday, the symbiotic nature of love came full circle for Zimmer and his vastly improved defense, which put the brakes on Baltimore and vaulted the Bengals to the top of the AFC North, with three straight victories against their division rivals - the Steelers, Browns and Ravens.
"I was in (the Zimmer's) house on Thursday afternoon, and the Post-it notes all around, treats for the players, and I reminded those guys of that Friday morning," coach Lewis. "I said that they were always on her mind. I thought the way those guys played defensively - because we had a little bit of a funk to us on Friday - we were able to push out of the funk, and that was good."
The Bengals made the Ravens pay dearly for three penalties while driving 80 yards in 11 plays in 1:50 for the go-ahead score. An illegal contact call whistled against Chris Carr, an unnecessary roughness penalty against Ray Lewis and a pass interference infraction against Frank Walker (incorrectly called against Ed Reed) on third-and-16 from the Baltimore 30 led to Palmer's 20-yard touchdown pass to Andre Caldwell with 22 seconds to play.
The Ravens entered Sunday ranked third in the league with 32.5 points scored per game, but they were held to one offensive touchdown by the Bengals, who got a sack apiece from Dhani Jones and Robert Geathers and a team-high eight tackles (six solo) including two tackles for loss from Rey Maualuga.
"We had a little fire behind us with what was going on with Coach Zimmer," Maualuga said.
Hall's pick off a desperation heave from Joe Flacco with 9 seconds left in the game allowed the Bengals to take a knee and hold on to another dramatic comeback. Hall also goose-egged Derrick Mason, the latest No. 1 receiver to be held without a catch by the Bengals. Johnathan Joseph became the first Bengal to come up with picks in three straight games since Deltha O’Neal had a four-game stretch in 2005.
"Obviously, just a great victory for the team," coach Lewis said. "I thought the defensive team played a tremendous game today. (We) had one bad football play, and unfortunately that led to a touchdown."
On offense, Cedric Benson became the first player in 40 games to rush for at least 100 yards against the Ravens with 120 yards on 27 carries. The Chiefs' Larry Johnson did it last back in 2006, but Benson's big day in Baltimore marked the first time an AFC North back amassed 100 rushing yards against the Ravens since Rudi Johnson turned the trick in 2005. Benson's 28-yard rushing score Sunday gave the Bengals a 10-7 lead with 52 seconds left in the third quarter.
Palmer finished 18-for-31 passing for 271 yards. He hit Chris Henry (3 catches, 92 yards) with a 73-yard reception to set up a Shayne Graham 32-yard late second-quarter field goal, and kept the game-winning drive alive with a 6-yard run on fourth-and-1. Palmer earned his 10th career come-from-behind victory. Chad Ochocinco had seven catches for 94 yards. Caldwell hauled in his second game-winning reception of the season, following all those yellow flags tossed at the Baltimore defense.
"The Ravens had been very aggressive all during the game," Palmer said. "They had their hands all over our receivers. I knew if we kept throwing the ball down field, we would get some P.I. (pass interference) calls. Being the quarterback, I’m always looking for those PI’s. We had to wait until the final drive, but we finally got some."
Cincinnati survived Bengals killer Ed Reed's 52-yard interception return for the game's first touchdown, the five-time Pro-Bowler's 12th career TD, at 12:17 of the second quarter. And they survived Ray Rice's 48-yard catch-and-run for a touchdown off a screen pass from Flacco with 3:19 to go, a play that saw Rice elude would-be tackler Brandon Johnson then keep his balance by planting his left hand on the turf twice before sprinting the rest of the way for the score.
And the Bengals survived another adventurous day by long-snapper Brad St. Louis, who added two more bad snaps to this year's total, which is now six in five games. One of Sunday's errant long snaps botched a field goal attempt, and another St. Louis blues special nearly botched a third-quarter extra-point attempt, which was replayed and converted following a Ravens penalty for illegal formation.
Baltimore was whistled for 10 penalties. The Ravens managed just 12 first downs to the Bengals' 22, and Cincinnati won the time-of-possession battle by nearly 10 minutes. The Bengals outgained the Ravens on offense, 403-257.
"I want to give compliments to the Bengals. That’s a good football team. We knew they were a good football team, and I say they are everything as advertised and more," said Ravens head coach John Harbaugh. "They came into a tough environment and found a way to win the game. They played well throughout the game. But then in the end, they finished and won the game. So, hats off to them on that. They are in control of the division, and we’re all looking up at them."
But it was just a game, part of American life's rich pageantry.
Vikki Zimmer represented life, and was full of life.
In death, she inspired an entire football team and helped give it life.
It's hard to be over the top with enthusiasm now that the Bengals are the most exciting team in the NFL, with four straight come-from-behind victories, knowing the dark days that lie ahead for coach Zimmer and his family.
There is a subdued joy in town. Something awful has happened. And yet, something good is happening in Cincinnati.
It's been said and written many times that the Bengals are so bad that even when they are good, something bad happens. In the tragic case of this past week, that would be a cruel joke played on a team that's already experienced its monumental share of bad luck.
Unfortunately, that is life. It blitzes us all when we least expect it. No matter what humans do and no matter what we accomplish and no matter how much we love and forgive, nothing is smarter or more inexorable and unforgiving than fate, which grinds onward without regard.
The reality of life has just hit the Bengals hard. On Sunday, they tried to hit the Ravens just as hard, and they were successful enough to beat their division nemesis in their own stadium.
If not for the improbable Denver loss in the opener, Cincinnati could be 5-0. Then again, after five games in which all were decided by seven points or fewer, the Bengals could be 0-5. The reality is, they are 4-1 for the first time since 2005 and have won four straight for the first time since 2006.
They are in the playoff hunt as legitimate contenders.
There was so much to talk about Sunday, but Mike Zimmer declined to speak to the media.
No problem there, coach. The Bengals' defense just spoke for you.