Local Bengals fans react: ‘What we had just witnessed was very painful’

Then Hamlin stood up, adjusted his facemask, and collapsed to the ground.

Seconds later, the professional football game — once thought to determine seeding in the AFC playoffs — became about life and death.

Hamlin, a 24-year-old from the University of Pittsburgh, suffered a cardiac arrest and was resuscitated on the field before being transported to UC Medical Center where he remains in critical condition.

More than the 65,000 fans who packed Paycor Stadium grew silent when they realized the severity of Hamlin’s injury after seeing an ambulance drive onto the field.

‘It was a sober feeling’

Michael Bailey, pastor of Faith Church in Middletown, was there with his wife, Patsy, and two grandsons, Jace, and Keej. He has owned Bengals season tickets for 10 years and never expected to experience what happened Monday night.

After the injury, the Baileys prayed for Hamlin and his family.

“It was a sober feeling,” Bailey said. “I still feel that way really.”

Fifty minutes after the game was halted, it was postponed indefinitely. Bailey believes that was the best and only decision the NFL could have made.

“Humanity stepped up last night,” he said. “Every life matters.”

The Baileys slowly walked out of the stadium. It was much different than two hours earlier.

“It was a quiet walk,” he said.

‘Oh my God, what just happened?’

Ami Vitori, a former Middletown City Council member, was at the MNF game with her parents, Dennis and Suzi Vitori, and her oldest son, Marco, 12, a seventh-grader at John XXIII. She called the game “the highest of highs and the lowest of lows.”

One minute the stadium was “electric,” then it went dark, she said.

Vitori remembers thinking: “Oh my God, what just happened?”

When Vitori saw the urgency of the Bills medical staff, she realized the seriousness of Hamlin’s injuries.

“Life and death” is how she described the chaotic scene.

Not interested in watching any more football, the Vitoris left before the game was postponed.

‘This is not war. This is life.’

Pastor Lamar Ferrell, who attended Monday’s game with three nephews, Spencer, Wyatt and Jeremiah, and good friend, Tim Oaks, agreed with the NFL’s decision to postpone the game indefinitely. Then on Tuesday, the NFL announced there were no plans to resume the game this week.

The players, after witnessing a teammate being brought back to life, were in no state of mind to consider competing, Ferrell said.

“This is not war,” he said. “This is life. There is no way either team would have had the ability to play. If the game had continued, it would have been the cruelest thing in the world.”

After seeing a medical crisis “happen in front of them,” Ferrell hopes players and coaches from both teams are offered professional counseling.

“They have to be thinking, ‘This could happen to me,’” he said.

Ferrell said as the crowd filed out of the stadium and walked to their cars, there was no discussion and no one blew their horns while stuck in traffic.

“What we had just witnessed was very painful,” he said. “You don’t want to be part of history. We went to watch a football game and walked away praying for life.”