The Best Moments in Cincinnati Bengals History: From Shooter to the Freezer

CINCINNATI – The Cincinnati Bengals are still looking for their first Super Bowl championship heading into their 57th season as a franchise, and their all-time record (404-487-5) is well below .500.

But that doesn’t mean there haven’t been some great moments along the way.

In fact, there have been enough to make it difficult to whittle down the candidates into a top 10 list.

That’s why it’s actually a top 11 in disguise.

Ranking the Greatest Moments in Cincinnati Bengals History

Before we get to the main list, let’s look at some that just missed the cut:

Honorable mention (in chronological order):

• Becoming the youngest team in NFL history to win a division title in 1972
• Rallying from 21-point deficit in 1981 opener
• Winning first playoff game in franchise history in 1981
• Trading for James Brooks in 1984
• Jeff Hayes’ 69-yard fake punt run for a touchdown vs Steelers in 1986
• Corey Dillon breaks Jim Brown’s rookie rushing record in 1997
• Neil O’Donnel’s fake spike touchdown to beat Steelers in 1998
• Hiring Marvin Lewis in 2003
• Return to Monday Night Football in 2004
• Jerome Simpson’s flip in 2011
• Rallying from 17 down to beat Seattle in 2015
• Andy Dalton Hail Mary to A.J. Green to beat the Ravens in 2016
• Andy Dalton to Tyler Boyd to eliminate the Ravens in 2017
• Vonn Bell’s hit on JuJu Smith-Schuster in 2020
• Ja’Marr Chase’s 266-yard game vs. Chiefs in 2021
• Compassionate way team handled Damar Hamlin situation in 2022
• Fumble in the Jungle in 2022
• Dominant road playoff win in snow at Buffalo in 2022
• Tee Higgins’ backhanded stretch for a touchdown in comeback win vs. Vikings 2023.

10) AJ to A.J.

Yes, the Bengals went on to lose the game, but there’s not a moment on this list – or any list – that ends with the team winning a championship.

And anyone who was in the stadium the night backup quarterback AJ McCarron hit A.J. Green for a go-ahead touchdown in the 2015 Wild Card game against the Pittsburgh Steelers will tell you it was one of the most electric moments they had ever experienced to that point.

It erased a 15-point deficit and – seemingly – a 24-season drought without a playoff win.

Unfortunately, the moment didn’t even last two minutes, as the 16-15 lead with 1:50 remaining dissolved into the Meltdown at Paul Brown and an 18-16 loss.

9) Called Shots

One was far more public than the other – not to mention more brash – but it’s hard to pick which prediction was greater: Chad Johnson’s or Evan McPherson’s.

While McPherson’s was said in passing to a teammate as he headed onto the field to kick the game-winning field goal in the 2021 Divisional Round game against the Tennessee Titans, his “Looks like we’re going to the AFC Championship Game” quote became the stuff of lore when quarterback Joe Burrow mentioned it in his postgame news conference.

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McPherson’s 52-yard field goal not only sent the Bengals to Kansas City for the AFC Championship Game, but it also gave the Bengals their first road playoff win in franchise history.

Johnson’s called shot was more than a prediction; it was a guarantee. And he said it at his locker in front of a group of reporters eager to document it.

It was Marvin Lewis’ first season as head coach and the Bengals were 4-5 and relevant, a far cry from the last few seasons. Johnson, a 25-year-old receiver in just his third season, guaranteed the team would beat the 9-0 Chiefs, which they did 24-19, signaling the official rebirth of the franchise.

8) Bengals Draft Burrow

The only thing keeping this from being higher on the list is how obvious it was that the Bengals would draft Joe Burrow with the No. 1 pick in 2020 from the moment they lost a 38-35 overtime game in Miami the previous December.

Throughout much of 2019, the race for the No. 1 picked was dubbed “Tank for Tua” regarding Tua Tagovailoa. But the Bengals always were locked in on Joe Burrow. Even after being wowed by Justin Herbert while coaching him in the 2020 Senior Bowl, nothing was going to stop Cincinnati from selecting the Ohio native Burrow.

In just four seasons, he’s won five playoff games, equaling the franchise total from the 52 seasons before he arrived, and led the team to two division titles, two AFC Championship Games, and a Super Bowl.

7) Playoff Drought Ends

It’s doubtful the city of Cincinnati has ever seen a party like the night the Bengals beat the Las Vegas Raiders in a 2021 Wild Card game to end a 30-season drought without a playoff win.

Though the Bengals were favored by 5.5 and led by as many as 14, the fanbase had grown to expect the worst to happen in January. Ghosts of playoff losses past were haunting minds as the Raiders had first-and-goal inside the Cincinnati 10-yard line with less than a minute to go.

But on fourth-and-goal, linebacker Germaine Pratt intercepted Derek Carr, unleashing a wild celebration and an ocean’s worth of happy tears across the city.

A moment 31 years in the making.

One down, three to go. pic.twitter.com/4ytz4XeLeN

— Cincinnati Bengals (@Bengals) January 16, 2022

6) Dillon Sets NFL Record

Three years after breaking Jim Brown’s single-game rookie rushing record on a nationally televised Thursday night game, Corey Dillon topped Walter Payton’s NFL single-game mark with far fewer people watching.

The Bengals were 0-6 and facing the playoff-bound Denver Broncos in the fourth career game at Paul Brown Stadium when Dillon rushed for 278 yards and two touchdowns in a 31-21 victory.

Cincinnati quarterback Akili Smith was just 2 of 9 for 34 yards in the game, but Dillon gave the team all the offense it needed against a Denver defense that came into the contest with the league’s No. 2 run defense.

5) Muñoz Enshrined

We could do a separate top 10 list of great Anthony Muñoz moments, but nothing could top arguably the greatest offensive tackle in NFL history being enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1998.

The Bengals drafted Muñoz with the No. 3 pick in 1980, and he would go on to start in two Super Bowls and 184 regular-season games while earning nine All-Pro awards – tied for third-most all-time – and 11 Pro Bowl nominations.

Muñoz was the first player who spent the majority of his career with the Bengals to be enshrined in the Hall of Fame, and he remained the only one until cornerback Ken Riley joined him posthumously in 2023.

4) Ickey Shuffles Bengals to Super Bowl

The entire 1988 season — which ushered in the nickname “The Jungle” and attached Guns ‘n Roses “Welcome to the Jungle” to every opening kickoff moving forward — was one long great moment for the Bengals, with Boomer Esiason winning the MVP award and the team tying the franchise record with 12 wins. However, beating Buffalo 21-10 in the AFC Championship Game was the topper.

Not only did Ickey Woods do the Ickey Shuffle twice in the game after a pair of 1-yard touchdown runs, but snuffing the Bills and head coach Marv Levy, who had challenged the legality of Sam Wyche’s no-huddle offense, was particularly gratifying for the franchise and the fanbase.

The only reason Cincinnati fans got to watch the game in person instead of on TV was because Washington kicker Chip Lohmiller hit the upright on an extra point with seven seconds remaining, sending the game to overtime, where the Bengals won to earn home-field advantage.

3) Super Return

Stanford Jennings snapped a 6-6 tie in Super Bowl XXIII when returned a kickoff 93 yards with 34 seconds remaining in the third quarter for the first touchdown of the game and a 13-6 lead.

Exactly one full quarter later, with 34 seconds remaining in the game, Joe Montana hit John Taylor for the game-winning touchdown, denying the Bengals their first Super Bowl title, and possibly denying Jennings the No. 1 spot on this list.

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Jennings’ jaunt was the first kickoff returned for a touchdown in Super Bowl history and only the fifth in postseason history in the Super Bowl era.

2) Historic Comeback

Trailing 21-3 with less than two minutes to go before halftime of the 2021 AFC Championship Game in Kansas City, the Bengals scored 21 unanswered points to take the lead and eventually won the game in overtime to go to Super Bowl LVI.

SHOOOOOOOOOTER SENDS US TO LA!

Visit https://t.co/KpeqK4RKUm for more highlights. pic.twitter.com/vb03jFYigS

— Cincinnati Bengals (@Bengals) January 30, 2022

From Eli Apple’s tackle of Tyreek Hill at the goal line to close the first half to Sam Hubbard chasing down Patrick Mahomes with the Chiefs a few yards away from a game-winning touchdown at the end of the fourth quarter, it was one of the most impressive defensive displays in team history, and it came against one of the greatest quarterbacks and head coaches the league has ever known.

It continued in overtime when Vonn Bell intercepted Mahomes, setting up Evan McPherson’s game-winning field goal to cap an incredible turnaround from 4-11-1 in 2020 to the Super Bowl in 2021.

The win remains tied for the largest comeback in NFL championship game history.

1) Freezer Bowl

It could have been an average, 39-degree mid-January day, and advancing to the first Super Bowl in team history would have been considered the greatest moment in franchise history.

But with a temperature of minus-9 and a wind chill of minus-59, the Freezer Bowl is an easy choice.

From the brash statement the Cincinnati offensive linemen made by coming out bare-armed to the shower of newspaper confetti raining on the field in the final moments of a dominant 27-7 triumph over the San Diego Chargers, it was the single most iconic moment in the team history.