Jon Kitna is a well-known entity in the world of the NFL. The former quarterback delivered impressive performances for Central Washington University and even won the NAIA championship in 1995.
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However, Kitna was not very confident about making his way into the NFL because of which, he started applying for coaching jobs at high schools. However, Seahawks coach Dennis Erickson spotted his talented and decided to give him a go.
After stints with the Seattle Seahawks and the Barcelona Dragons, the now $12 million worth coach was roped in by the Cincinnati Bengals in 2001 and he stayed there till 2005.
After a couple of average seasons, he finally made his presence felt on the highest level in 2003. Jon guided the Bengals to their first non-losing season since 1996 which earned him the NFL Comeback Player Of The Year Award.
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Jon Kitna Had a Few Bewildering Experiences While He Was With The Bengals
After playing for the Bengals, he went on to had brief stints with the Detroit Lions as well as the Dallas Cowboys. However, while he was with the Bengals, Jon had a few bewildering experiences which he had shared on an episode of The Ryan Russell Podcast a while ago.
“I don’t wanna throw anybody under the bus but there was a time that I played a game with a guy that was drunk in the huddle,” Jon said during the podcast.
“There was a time that a guy showed up late to a game. In the NFL, you need to be there two hours, two hours and 15 minutes ahead of time. And he showed up under an hour before the game even started. Those are weird things,” he added.
Kitna went on to claim that although it is tough to know if the staff already knew that one of the players used to come in drunk, stinking of booze for the man in question was a common occurrence. “I mean he was drunk and had close to 200 yards receiving now. It was crazy.”
This is indeed astonishing but everyone knows how demanding the NFL is and how physically and mentally taxing it could be. Maybe the player Jon was referring to was using alcohol as a means to deal with all that pressure, or maybe he was just having fun, no one really knows for sure. What we can say for sure is that for a professional athlete, it wasn’t the right thing to do.
