The Pittsburgh Steelers run the Super Bowl XL in 2005 was magical. It helped the team win their fifth Lombardi Trophy and sent Hall of Fame RB Jerome Bettis off into the sunset with a much-deserved ring. Pittsburgh’s run to the Super Bowl started on a relatively warm January day in Cincinnati against QB Carson Palmer and the Bengals.
As we know now, Palmer’s day ended two snaps in after DE Kimo von Oelhoffen rolled into Palmer’s leg, which led to Palmer tearing his ACL. Palmer’s one pass that day was a huge 66-yard completion, but instead of a ton of cheers, then Paul Brown Stadium went silent in shock. It wasn’t just the fans who were shocked, but also the Bengals backup quarterback Jon Kitna.
“My eyes never leave the quarterback,” recalled Kitna on Fanatics View’s YouTube channel. “When I’m the back up I’m watching him [Palmer]. I see him get hit, and he’s down and doesn’t look good, immediately you’re like ‘That didn’t just happen.’ But, at the same time you gotta go get ready to play.”
No, Kimo von Oelhoffen did not purposefully hurt Carson Palmer #Steelers https://t.co/e76jqsihfW
— Steelers Depot 7⃣ (@Steelersdepot) November 15, 2020
Cincinnati could have been shell-shocked after that, and it would have been understandable. One can argue that 2005 was Palmer’s best season as he tossed a league-high and career-high 32 touchdowns and threw for 3,836 yards. Palmer finished 2005 fifth in MVP voting as he led the Bengals to winning the AFC North. But even without Palmer, the AFC North champion Bengals played a strong first half with Kitna as at one point they were up 17-7 and finished the first half up 17-14.
However, Kitna and the Bengals fell apart in the second half as the Steelers defense shut down the Bengals and held them scoreless while picking off Kitna twice. As Kitna remembers, after the game the Bengals were less concerned with the loss and more worried about Palmer.
“As bad as it was to lose that game, I know speaking for the rest of that team and that city, it was such an afterthought, because it was just about Carson and how bad we felt for him,” said Kitna.
Not only did that game start the Steelers’ Super Bowl run, but it was also the start of head coach Marvin Lewis and the Bengals’ seven straight playoff losses. Cincinnati fans will always wonder what would have happened if Palmer didn’t get hurt. Palmer was on fire that season and it looked like his hot play would continue that evening at Paul Brown Stadium. At the same time, that Steelers team felt like a team of destiny as they had just won four straight games to make the playoffs and their quarterback Ben Roethlisberger was just getting started on a great playoff run.
We will never know how that game turns out with a healthy Palmer. It would have been a great grudge match as the Bengals and Steelers split the season series that year and it could change how the next 10-plus years go for each franchise as both Palmer and Roethlisberger were just getting their careers started. The Bengals think they could’ve gone all the way if Palmer was healthy, but it’s just a “what if” that Bengals fans will always ponder.
