CINCINNATI -- A familiar staple is back inside the Bengals' locker room.
When Cincinnati returned from its bye week, the team was greeted by two table tennis stations. The tables were noticeably absent when the team redid the locker room ahead of the season.
At the time, team executive Elizabeth Blackburn indicated that it was a decision made by coaches and players to have them removed ahead of this season. But the tables that were present during the team's AFC North championships in 2021 and 2022 are now back with six weeks left this regular season.
And while the table games have been fun over the years, the reinsertion appears anything but trivial.
"We've got the ping pong tables back in the locker room," kicker Evan McPherson said on Monday. "Everybody's excited about that, just to get to compete and not just [in] football. I feel like it just rejuvenated everybody's spirit. We're excited, and we're treating this like a whole new season."
McPherson was answering a question about coming off the bye week, but his comments about the locker room games appeared to be on the money.
As soon as practice ended, rookie wide receiver Jermaine Burton searched for paddles so he could face Troy Walters, his position coach. The linebacker pairing of Germaine Pratt and Akeem Davis-Gaither, the top doubles duo in previous years, was split up for the sake of competitive fairness.
And the battles extended into coach Zac Taylor's news conference on Monday. Shouts and screams could be heard through the wall separating the locker room from the conference room, which was a welcomed byproduct of the return of the games.
The Bengals (4-7) are in the midst of their most underwhelming season in years. They have already matched their most regular-season losses since 2020, the year before the franchise made deep playoff runs in 2021 and 2022 -- the latter season marked the team's first Super Bowl appearance in 33 years.
Those were also the two seasons in which quarterback Joe Burrow finished the season without a major injury. This year, Burrow is having a career year, but Cincinnati could be looking at missing the playoffs. According to ESPN Research, the Bengals' odds are just 12.8% heading into this weekend's matchup against the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Bringing back table tennis could be the small spark Cincinnati needs.
"It's December football now," Taylor said, "and [we] need everyone to be at their best. Need everyone to have energy when they walk in the building. [Table tennis] creates some competitiveness. That's about all there is to it."