The drubbing they got from Pittsburgh was a big blow to them being seen as the real deal. But a lot of people didn't seem to notice that the Bengals actually hung in there with them for a lot of that game and things just spiralled out of control in the second half.
The only metal I listen to is modern Scandanavian black metal and power metal. "Heavy metal", ala Metallica and the like, doesn't even register as metal to me. Just another form of mainstream "rock".