Up until recently, the half-decade that marked the beginning of the ‘Andy Dalton years’—really, the A.J. Green years—from 2011-2015 marked the modern high point for the Cincinnati Bengals. Although they failed to win a playoff game, they did qualify for the postseason five years in a row for the first time ever and won the division multiple times.
Now they might have Joe Burrow at quarterback and stars on both sides of the ball, widely regarded as a top Super Bowl contender, but there were plenty of lean years. Which is what made their 2005 playoff loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers so painful—in more ways than one.
It was the opening round, the wildcard, with the Steelers as the visitors. QB Carson Palmer, in just his second season, led the league in passing touchdowns and they had a top-five offense generally with an astonishingly opportunistic defense (31 interceptions, 44 takeaways overall). It all came crumbling down on the Bengals’ very first pass of the game, though.
In spite of the fact that he managed to hit WR Chris Henry for a 66-yard connection on the play, Palmer went down in ugly fashion after DL Kimo von Oelhoffen collided with his knee. The result was tears of both the ACL and MCL. Cincinnati still managed an early 10-0 lead behind Jon Kitna, but Pittsburgh ultimately prevailed, 31-17, and went on to win the Super Bowl, their first since 1979.
“I think if Carson was able to stay upright and the situation didn’t happen, we would have won a Lombardi”, said former Bengals WR Chad Johnson, also once known as Ochocinco, who was on the field that day. These remarks come, via Geoff Hobson for the team’s website, as the Bengals prepare to honor him as an inductee into their Ring of Honor.
Johnson was in the midst of what should be regarded as an underrated run. He was a first-team All-Pro in 2005 with 1,432 yards on 97 receptions with nine touchdowns, but he had sustained productivity. From 2003-2007, a five-year period, he caught 462 passes for 6870 yards and 43 touchdowns. And that’s not even including a 1,166-yard season in 2002.
The point is, that was a very good Bengals team. Rude Johnson rushed for nearly 1500 yards with 12 touchdowns. T.J. Houshmandzadeh nearly hit 1000 yards receiving and contributed another seven touchdowns. I already mentioned their remarkable turnover production, even if their defense wasn’t exactly lights-out otherwise.
Hue Jackson was their wide receivers coach that year, part of the core of his reputation that ultimately led to his stunningly bad year-and-a-half tenure as Browns head coach later on. He saw firsthand just how good they really were, and he fully backs Johnson’s interpretation of what would have happened had von Oelhoffen not happened to find Palmer’s knee.
“I don’t think there’s a player or coach on that team who doesn’t believe that”, he said.
Instead, Marvin Lewis retired winless in the postseason, a clean 0-7 record. They didn’t return to postseason play until 2009, by which point Palmer was already unhappy and beginning to angle his way out of Cincinnati.
