Classic Bengals: The 50 Greatest Games in Cincinnati Bengals History

Maloney

#50

BENGALS 34, PITTSBURGH STEELERS 10

OCTOBER 14, 1979

A Turnover in Roles

Even in their best seasons, the Cincinnati Bengals traditionally struggle to defeat the Pittsburgh Steelers.

That isn’t news, whether you’ve been a fan of the orange and black since 1970—the first time the two teams met as AFC Central Division rivals—or are a more recent arrival to Bengals nation.

Pittsburgh won the first meeting between the two, 21–10, on November 2, 1970, at Three Rivers Stadium, and the Bengals have been playing catch-up ever since. Cincinnati has never led the all-time series, and has drawn even only once—a 1–1 series tie after the Bengals defeated Pittsburgh, 34–7, in the 1970 rematch.

Cincinnati has had bad timing in the series—the Bengals were arguably one of the best teams in the AFC for most of the 1970s, but Pittsburgh was the undisputed best team in football over the same period, winning four Super Bowls. From the 1972 season through the end of the decade, the Steelers won seven division titles, dominating Cincinnati during that period, winning nine of 12 regular season meetings from 1973 through 1978.

No one, therefore, had any reason to expect what happened in Week Seven of the 1979 season.

The Steelers came to Cincinnati still rolling after their third Super Bowl championship, with a 5–1 record to face an 0–6 Bengals team, maybe at the lowest point in its 12-year history.

Reflecting its record, Cincinnati had scored just 85 points in its first six games, while allowing 159. Pittsburgh, meanwhile, had scored 51 points in its previous game alone. While the vaunted Steel Curtain defense was beginning to show signs of wear, it was still capable of dominating a game.

What happened for three hours at Riverfront Stadium that afternoon had fans across the league doing a double-take.

The game started as many thought it might: Steelers linebacker Dennis Winston intercepted a Ken Anderson pass on the first play from scrimmage, setting Pittsburgh up at the Bengals 35. Pittsburgh could gain only 6 yards, and Matt Bahr kicked a 46-yard field goal. Less than two minutes into the game, it was 3–0 Pittsburgh.

Cincinnati recovered and responded. Anderson ran for 14 yards on the Bengals’ second play of the next drive, and later completed a 38-yard pass to running back Archie Griffin to the Steelers 10-yard line. After a Griffin 3-yard run, Anderson and tight end Dan Ross connected on a 7-yard touchdown pass. The point-after by kicker Chris Bahr (brother of Pittsburgh kicker Matt) was good, and it was 7–3 Bengals.

The Steelers then became the kind of team the Bengals were throughout the rest of 1979.

Running back Sidney Thornton fumbled on the Steelers’ next play, and Cincinnati defensive end Ross Browner recovered at the Pittsburgh 36. The Bengals couldn’t take advantage when Chris Bahr came up short and wide on a 49-yard field-goal attempt. But the Bengals had controlled the game through the first quarter, outgaining the Steelers 91 yards to 60 in the first quarter. That was nothing compared to the next 15 minutes.

After a promising Pittsburgh drive ended with a missed field goal, wide receiver John Stallworth fumbled on the Steelers’ next possession. Ken Riley picked it up and returned it 13 yards to the Steelers 31.

Running back Charles Alexander ran for 22 of the next 31 yards, and Pete Johnson took it the final yard into the end zone. Chris Bahr’s tough day continued, however, and he missed the extra point. Cincinnati’s lead was 13–3.

Pittsburgh’s self-destructive tendencies continued when Anthony Anderson fumbled the ensuing kickoff at the Steelers 15. Bengals linebacker Howie Kurnick, a University of Cincinnati graduate, scooped up the football and ran it back for a touchdown. This time Chris Bahr converted, and it was 20–3 Cincinnati.

Pittsburgh coughed up the football again—this time on a Franco Harris fumble that Cincinnati linebacker Jim LeClair returned 27 yards for the Bengals’ third touchdown of the quarter. It was now 27–3 with a little more than five minutes remaining in the half, and the score held up until intermission.

Neither team scored in the third quarter, despite the Steelers turning the football over four more times—two Eddie Edwards recoveries of botched snaps, a Riley recovery of another Harris fumble, and a Reggie Williams interception of Bradshaw.

Williams also intercepted Bradshaw on the second play of the fourth quarter, at the Bengals 36, and this time the Bengals were able to cash in. Cincinnati kept mostly to the ground and removed whatever hope for a Pittsburgh comeback remained on a 14-yard touchdown pass from Anderson to tight end Rick Walker to make it 34–3.

The Steelers got the score back on a 33-yard touchdown pass from Bradshaw to Stallworth. Their next, and final, possession ended at the Cincinnati 45 with three minutes remaining. Five Alexander carries ran out the clock and gave Cincinnati one of its most unlikely wins in team history. Not only had they defeated the defending Super Bowl champions, they embarrassed them.

Pittsburgh outgained Cincinnati 327 to 284, but committed a staggering nine turnovers.

I don’t want to excuse anything, but they forced fumbles and we didn’t, Pittsburgh head coach Chuck Noll said. A couple of the fumbles were on exchanges, but others were just taken away from us.

Cincinnati cornerback Louis Breeden acknowledged the role reversal. They looked like a replica of us, Breeden said. When you make mistakes like that, you’re going to get beat. We’ve proved that.

How much of an anomaly was this game?

The Steelers would lose only two more games—35–7 at San Diego (a similar performance in which they coughed up eight turnovers) and 20–17 at Houston. They would roll through the playoffs and win Super Bowl XIV, 31–19, over the Los Angeles Rams.

The Bengals would win only three more games—against the Eagles, Cardinals, and Browns.

For one fall afternoon in Cincinnati, the teams, heading in opposite directions, reversed roles in dramatic fashion.

First Quarter

PIT—M. Bahr 46-yd. FG

CIN—Ross 7-yd. pass from Anderson (C. Bahr kick)

SECOND QUARTER

CIN—P. Johnson 1-yd. run (kick failed)

CIN—Kurnick 12-yd. fumble return (C. Bahr kick)

CIN—LeClair 27-yd. fumble return (C. Bahr kick)

FOURTH QUARTER

CIN—Walker 14-yd. pass from Anderson (C. Bahr kick)

PIT—Stallworth 33-yd. pass from Bradshaw (M. Bahr kick)

RUSHING

PIT—Harris 9–39, Thornton 6–19

CIN—Alexander 19–91, Griffin 12–21, Turner 7–25, Anderson 3–28

PASSING

PIT—Bradshaw 21–40–2–275

CIN—Anderson 9–20–2–120

RECEIVING

PIT—Stallworth 6–126, Smith 5–75, Cunningham 4–38, Harris 4–29, Thornton 1–10

CIN—Griffin 4–65, Ross 2–21, Bass 1–15, Walker 1–14, Alexander 1–5

#49

BENGALS 27, MINNESOTA VIKINGS 0

DECEMBER 2, 1973

Turning Purple Black and Blue

Great football teams have an almost mythical aura, often reflected by a catchy nickname. Never was that more true than in the early 1970s:

Steel Curtain

Doomsday Defense

Fearsome Foursome

Each nickname conjured immediate images and evoked a semblance of fear among fans and the teams that had to go up against those units.

The Cincinnati Bengals certainly knew about the Steel Curtain, which was named in 1971 and truly came together in 1972, when Ernie Holmes joined Mean Joe Greene, L. C. Greenwood, and Dwight White to give the AFC Central Division rival Pittsburgh Steelers an almost impenetrable defensive front.

Cincinnati had less experience with the others. The Bengals had played the Los Angeles Rams’ Fearsome Foursome (Deacon Jones, Merlin Olsen, Lamar Lundy, and Roosevelt Grier) just once, in 1972, losing 15–12 at Memorial Coliseum. Similarly they’d had only one encounter with the Doomsday Defense of the Dallas Cowboys (Larry Cole, Jethro Pugh, Bob Lilly, and Ed Jones), earlier in 1973, losing 38–10 in Dallas.

The challenge faced on December 2, 1973, was colorful. The Purple People Eaters—Carl Eller, Alan Page, Gary Larsen, and Jim Marshall—were coming to town for the first meeting between the Bengals and the Minnesota Vikings.

The game was important to Cincinnati, which, at 7–4, was very much in the AFC Central Division race. The Bengals had won three in a row after that loss at Dallas, and they were playing the third of a four-game home stand.

Minnesota, the dominant team in the early days of the NFC Central Division, was three years removed from a Super Bowl appearance (a loss to Kansas City in Super Bowl IV). They were 30–12 overall from 1970 to 1972, which included a pedestrian 7–7 mark in 1972.

The Vikings were proving that the break-even 1972 campaign was an aberration, winning their first nine games in 1973 before a 20–14 loss at Atlanta on Monday Night Football on November 19. They had already clinched the NFC Central Division championship.

Minnesota’s defense had given up just 94 points in its first nine games, while Cincinnati’s offense was on a roll, scoring 78 points in wins over Buffalo, the New York Jets, and St. Louis.

Bengals fans were amped up for the chance to watch Fran The Scram Tarkenton, Chuck Foreman, Ed Marinaro, and the other Vikings stars, and a season-high (to that point) crowd of 57,859 took a break from holiday shopping to fill Riverfront Stadium.

They didn’t see what they likely expected to see, however. They saw something much more enjoyable.

Neither offense scored in the first quarter. The Bengals broke the ice on the second play of the second quarter: a 22-yard Horst Muhlmann field goal on the 15th play of a 75-yard drive.

Cincinnati’s defense kept Minnesota on its side of the field for most of the first quarter and sent a message late in the second quarter, when Lemar Parrish picked up a Marinaro fumble and ran 23 yards for the game’s first touchdown. Cincinnati led 10–0.

Bengals linebacker Bill Bergey recovered a Bill Brown fumble on the Vikings 40 early in the third quarter, and running back Essex Johnson scored on the next play to make it 17–0.

With the Cincinnati defense still stuffing the Vikings, Muhlmann kicked a 38-yard field goal with 59 seconds remaining in the third quarter, and Cincinnati led 20–0. Then the Bengals added another touchdown early in the fourth when Ken Anderson threw a 7-yard touchdown pass to Bob Trumpy.

The question was no longer if the Bengals would win, but whether they could do something that no team had done in 4,439 days—shut out the Minnesota Vikings. It had not happened since October 7, 1961, when the Bears did it, 13–0. The only other time Minnesota failed to score in a game was in its first year, October 8, 1960, in a 28–0 loss to Dallas.

With Tarkenton on the bench, the Vikings put together perhaps their best drive of the game behind backup Bob Berry, moving from their own 20 to the Cincinnati 42. There, Minnesota’s best hope for a score rested on the right foot of veteran Fred Cox, who missed a 49-yard field-goal attempt with 9:13 remaining. Minnesota never got the ball back, as the Bengals ran out the clock.

Cincinnati Bengals defenders Ron Carpenter, Mike Reid, and Bill Bergey (on top) smother Minnesota running back Oscar Reed during the Bengals’ 27–0 shutout win at Riverfront Stadium in 1973. Cincinnati Enquirer.

The Bengals had registered only one shutout in their history, when two years earlier they beat San Diego, 31–0, at Riverfront Stadium. Cincinnati’s defense accomplished the rarity by limiting the Vikings rushing attack to 81 yards. Foreman carried 11 times for 38 yards. Tarkenton, known for his ability to extend plays and break down defenses with his elusiveness, did not carry or gain a yard. He was 11-for-18 for 73 yards and did not finish the game. Minnesota’s total offense of 201 yards was its fewest of the season.

The Vikings ran only 10 plays in Cincinnati territory and never got closer than the Bengals 42-yard line. The Bengals, on the other hand, overpowered the Purple People Eaters, rushing for 227 yards on 39 carries, led by Johnson’s nine carries for 79 yards and a touchdown. It was the most yards Minnesota allowed on the ground all season.

How dominant was the Bengals offensive line? I could have put any of those 60,000 people in there (at running back) today and gotten the job done, coach Paul Brown said.

Anderson was his efficient self, completing 12 of 17 passes for 105 yards. The Bengals forced three turnovers and did not give the ball away.

Fueled by their rousing victory over Minnesota, the Bengals would win their final two games, over Cleveland and Houston, to claim their second AFC Central Division championship.

SECOND QUARTER

CIN—Muhlmann 22-yd. FG

CIN—Parrish 23-yd. fumble return (Muhlmann kick)

THIRD QUARTER

CIN—E. Johnson 40-yd. run (Muhlmann kick)

CIN—Muhlmann 38-yd. FG

FOURTH QUARTER

CIN—Trumpy 7-yd. pass from Anderson (Muhlmann kick)

RUSHING

MIN—Foreman 11–38, Reed 9–30, Brown 3–14, Osborn 2–1

CIN—Anderson 3–11, E. Johnson 9–79, Clark 13–67, Elliott 11–57, Wilson 3–13

PASSING

MIN—Tarkenton 11–18–0–73, Berry 5–11–1–54

CIN—Anderson 12–17–0–105

RECEIVING

MIN—Reed 5–30, Foreman 4–28, Dale 2–16, Voigt 1–18, Lash 1–16, Marinaro 1–9, Brown 1–7, Osborn 1–3

CIN—Trumpy 4–37, Clark 4–30, E. Johnson 2–14, Joiner 1–23, Curtis 1–1

#48

BENGALS 16, BALTIMORE RAVENS 14

DECEMBER 21, 1997

Exit, Stage Right

On the final play of the 1997 season, in a two-point game at Cinergy Field and with nothing more at stake than pride, Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Boomer Esiason crouched under center at the Baltimore Ravens 25-yard line, took a snap, dropped back, and … went to the turf. Intentionally.

The game was over. Cincinnati won, 16–14.

That’s not why the game will be remembered.

Only four minutes earlier, Esiason had transported Bengals fans back nine years, to the 1988 Super Bowl XXIII season, and had at least temporarily brightened the pitch-black darkness of the previous six years.

At that point in the game, Cincinnati had a tenuous 10–7 lead in a game that likely even few of the 50,917 in attendance truly cared about. The Bengals had the ball at their own 23, second-down-and-12. They might have chosen to run the ball and the clock, but neither team had had much success on the ground that day—Cincinnati at the time had gained only 64 yards rushing.

Instead, they made a bold decision.

Esiason dropped back to pass and found speedster wide receiver Darnay Scott behind the Baltimore defense and hit him for a 77-yard touchdown pass with 3:41 left in the game. Even though Doug Pelfrey missed the extra point, Cincinnati had a two-score lead, and Bengals fans had pleasant flashbacks.

To that point, Cincinnati’s campaign had looked like so many of the six preceding it—since its last winning season and playoff appearance in 1990—though there had been a bit of optimism when the season began. Head coach Bruce Coslet was in his first full season after taking over from the fired Dave Shula seven games into the 1996 season. Under Coslet, Cincinnati won seven of its last nine games in 1996, including a rare victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Bengals also won their 1997 opener, a frantic comeback at home over Arizona, 24–21, after trailing 21–3 entering the fourth quarter.

Esiason watched that game from the bench, having returned to Cincinnati in the off-season to serve as backup and mentor for Jeff Blake, the latest in a line of Bengals quarterbacks everyone hoped would be the new Esiason. Blake led that comeback in the opening game, but would not win again until November 2, at home over San Diego—his last win as a Cincinnati starter.

Blake started the next game, a 28–13 win at Indianapolis, but Esiason replaced him in the second half and threw two touchdown passes. A week later, at Pittsburgh, Esiason was the starter and would keep the job for the rest of the season.

For Bengals fans, the final game of the 1997 season was more about 1998. If Esiason was the Boomer of old, with two of the more talented receivers in the game in Darnay Scott and David Dunn, second-year tight end Marco Battaglia, and running back Corey Dillon—who on December 4 broke Jim Brown’s four-decade-old rookie single-game rushing record with 246 yards on 39 carries against Tennessee—then maybe, just maybe, there was reason to believe.

Those five players accounted for all of the yards on Cincinnati’s first possession against Baltimore, a nine-play, 77-yard drive that ended with an 8-yard pass from Esiason to Battaglia.

Cincinnati’s offense would not score again until the middle of the third quarter, when Pelfrey converted a 44-yard field goal to break a 7–7 tie.

The Bengals gained only two first downs on their next three possessions. When they got the ball with just over four minutes to play, the game was still in the balance. Jamie Sharper tackled Dillon for a 2-yard loss on the first play, setting Cincinnati with a second-and-12 at their own 23. That’s when Esiason and Scott connected on what would be the final pass of Esiason’s career.

He finished in style, completing 21 of 34 passes for 254 yards and two touchdowns. That season, Esiason completed 118 of 186 passes for 1,478 yards. The completion percentage (63.4 percent) and the quarterback rating (106.9) were both the highest of his career.

First thing is, nothing has changed, Esiason told the assembled media after the game, alluding to his plans to return the next season.

I don’t want to catch the last pass of his career, Battaglia said. I want to catch some more from him, but that’s his decision.

The Bengals offered him a two-year contract, but another team made him a better offer: ABC wanted Esiason to be part of its Monday Night Football crew, and he accepted.

Cincinnati tried to replace Esiason with