1984 Cincinnati Bengals season

The 1984 season was the Cincinnati Bengals' 15th season in the National Football League (NFL), their 17th overall, and their first under head coach Sam Wyche. The team lost their first five games, before winning eight of their final eleven games to finish the season with a .500 record.

The season was the first for head coach Sam Wyche, who had replaced former coach Forrest Gregg after Gregg had resigned following the previous season. Wyche had been the head coach at Indiana University in 1983.

The club stumbled out of the gate, and went winless in September en route to a 1–6 start. However, the team began a turnaround, and by December, was one of the hottest teams in the league. The team won seven out of their last nine games, including a crucial win against their division rival Pittsburgh Steelers in week 11.

In the final week of the season, Cincinnati needed to win, and hope for the Steelers to lose at the Raiders, to secure an improbable AFC Central division title. The Bengals did their part, routing the Bills 52–21, and finished the season 8–8. Later in the day, the Bengals were forced to "scoreboard watch." The Steelers, however, managed to beat the Raiders, clinching the division, and effectively eliminating the Bengals from the playoffs.

In a 2018 article from FiveThirtyEight, the 1984 Cincinnati Bengals team is rated as the most average team in the history of American sports.^[1] They both scored and allowed 339 points in addition to their 8–8 record.^[2]

Offseason

NFL Draft

1984 Cincinnati Bengals draft
Round	Pick	Player	Position	College	Notes
1	7	Ricky Hunley	LB	Arizona
1	16	Pete Koch	DE	Maryland
1	28	Brian Blados	OT	North Carolina
2	38	Boomer Esiason *	QB	Maryland
3	65	Stanford Jennings	RB	Furman
4	92	John Farley	RB	Sacramento State
5	119	Barney Bussey	DB	South Carolina State
6	150	Don Kern	TE	Arizona State
7	177	Leo Barker	LB	New Mexico State
8	204	Bruce Reimers	Guard	Iowa State
9	231	Bruce Kozerski	Center	Holy Cross
10	262	Aaron Jackson	LB	North Carolina
10	265	Brent Ziegler	RB	Syracuse
11	289	Steve McKeaver	RB	Central State (OK)
12	316	Steve Raquet	LB	Holy Cross
Made roster    †   Pro Football Hall of Fame    *   Made at least one Pro Bowl during career

Roster

1984 Cincinnati Bengals roster

	Quarterbacks 14 Ken Anderson 11 Bryan Clark 7 Boomer Esiason 15 Turk Schonert Running backs 40 Charles Alexander 21 James Brooks 36 Stanford Jennings Wide receivers 80 Cris Collinsworth 85 Isaac Curtis 86 Steve Kreider 46 Clay Pickering 81 David Verser Tight ends 82 Rodney Holman 89 Don Kern		Offensive linemen 75 Brian Blados T 65 Max Montoya G 78 Anthony Muñoz T 64 Bruce Reimers G 50 Dave Rimington C 62 Gary Smith G 77 Mike Wilson T Defensive linemen 79 Ross Browner DE 73 Eddie Edwards DE 67 Pete Koch DE 69 Tim Krumrie NT		Linebackers 50 Glenn Cameron 58 Brian Pillman 59 Jeff Schuh 56 Ron Simpkins 57 Reggie Williams OLB Defensive backs 34 Louis Breeden 27 Barney Bussey 44 Ray Griffin 20 Ray Horton 26 Bobby Kemp Special teams 3 Jim Breech K 87 Pat McInally P		Reserve lists 68 Mike Obrovac T (IRTooltip Injured reserve) Practice squad Rookies in italics

Preseason

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Record	Venue	Attendance
1	August 4	at New York Jets	W 21–15	1–0	Giants Stadium	25,055
2	August 11	at Tampa Bay Buccaneers	L 13–21	1–1	Tampa Stadium	33,588
3	August 18	at Chicago Bears	W 25–17	2–1	Soldier Field	53,194
4	August 24	Detroit Lions	W 35–14	3–1	Riverfront Stadium	41,715

^[3]

Regular season

Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Result	Record	Venue	Attendance	Recap
1	September 2	at Denver Broncos	L 17–20	0–1	Mile High Stadium	74,178	Recap
2	September 9	Kansas City Chiefs	L 22–27	0–2	Riverfront Stadium	47,111	Recap
3	September 16	at New York Jets	L 23–43	0–3	Giants Stadium	64,193	Recap
4	September 23	Los Angeles Rams	L 14–24	0–4	Riverfront Stadium	45,406	Recap
5	October 1	at Pittsburgh Steelers	L 17–38	0–5	Three Rivers Stadium	57,098	Recap
6	October 7	Houston Oilers	W 13–3	1–5	Riverfront Stadium	43,637	Recap
7	October 14	at New England Patriots	L 14–20	1–6	Sullivan Stadium	48,154	Recap
8	October 21	Cleveland Browns	W 12–9	2–6	Riverfront Stadium	50,667	Recap
9	October 28	at Houston Oilers	W 31–13	3–6	Houston Astrodome	34,010	Recap
10	November 4	at San Francisco 49ers	L 17–23	3–7	Candlestick Park	58,324	Recap
11	November 11	Pittsburgh Steelers	W 22–20	4–7	Riverfront Stadium	52,497	Recap
12	November 18	Seattle Seahawks	L 6–26	4–8	Riverfront Stadium	50,280	Recap
13	November 25	Atlanta Falcons	W 35–14	5–8	Riverfront Stadium	44,678	Recap
14	December 2	at Cleveland Browns	W 20–17	6–8	Cleveland Municipal Stadium	51,774	Recap
15	December 9	at New Orleans Saints	W 24–21	7–8	Louisiana Superdome	40,855	Recap
16	December 16	Buffalo Bills	W 52–21	8–8	Riverfront Stadium	55,771	Recap
Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

Game summaries

Week 6

1 2 3 4 Total Oilers 0 0 3 0 3 • Bengals 0 3 7 3 13 Date: October 7 Location: Riverfront Stadium, Cincinnati Game start: 4:00 p.m. Game weather: 63 °F (17 °C); wind 8 mph (13 km/h) Referee: Jim Tunney

Scoring summary Q2 CIN Breech 33 yard field goal CIN 3–0 Q3 HOU Kempf 24 yard field goal Tie 3–3 Q3 CIN Esiason 3 yard run (Breech kick) CIN 10–3 Q4 CIN Breech 22 yard field goal CIN 13–3

^[4]

Week 7

Week 8

1 2 3 4 Total Browns 3 3 0 3 9 • Bengals 3 3 0 6 12 Date: October 21 Location: Riverfront Stadium, Cincinnati Game start: 1:00 p.m. Game weather: 63 °F (17 °C); wind 12 mph (19 km/h) Referee: Fred Wyant

Scoring summary Q1 CIN Breech 24 yard field goal CIN 3–0 Q1 CLE Bahr 50 yard field goal Tie 3–3 Q2 CIN Breech 23 yard field goal CIN 6–3 Q2 CLE Cox 60 yard field goal Tie 6–6 Q4 CIN Breech 25 yard field goal CIN 9–6 Q4 CLE Bahr 47 yard field goal Tie 9–9 Q4 CIN Breech 33 yard field goal CIN 12–9

^[5]

Week 10 (Sunday, November 4, 1984): at San Francisco 49ers

^[6]

Team	Category	Player	Statistics
CIN	Passing	Ken Anderson	21/34, 269 YDS, 1 TD, 2 INTs
	Rushing	Charles Alexander	8 CAR, 48 YDS
	Receiving	Cris Collinsworth	4 REC, 71 YDS, 1 TD
SF	Passing	Joe Montana	27/42, 301 YDS, 2 TDs, 4 INTs
	Rushing	Wendell Tyler	14 CAR, 52 YDS
	Receiving	Dwight Clark	7 REC, 124 YDS

Scoring summary

Quarter Time Drive Team Scoring information Score Plays Yards TOP CIN SF 1 1:05 Bengals 39-yard field goal by Breech 3 0 2 12:07 49ers Cooper 12-yard touchdown reception from Montana, Wersching kick good 3 7 2 7:02 Bengals Kinnebrew 6-yard touchdown run, Breech kick good 10 7 2 3:10 Bengals Collinsworth 7-yard touchdown reception from Anderson, Breech kick good 17 7 3 8:54 49ers 29-yard field goal by Wersching 17 10 4 9:46 49ers 35-yard field goal by Wersching 17 13 4 5:44 49ers 24-yard field goal by Wersching 17 16 4 1:39 49ers Solomon 4-yard touchdown reception from Montana, Wersching kick good 17 23 "TOP" = time of possession. For other American football terms, see Glossary of American football. 17 23

• Point spread: 49ers by 10½
• Over/Under: 43.0 (under)
• Time of Game:

Bengals	Game Statistics	49ers
21	First downs	26
25–116	Rushes–yards	31–91
269	Passing yards	301
21–34–2	Passes	27–42–4
6–39	Sacked–yards	1–7
230	Net passing yards	294
346	Total yards	385
144	Return yards	190
6–38.2	Punts	2–47.0
0–0	Fumbles–lost	0–0
6–46	Penalties–yards	5–30
29:24	Time of Possession	30:36

Week 11

1 2 3 4 Total Steelers 0 13 0 7 20 • Bengals 3 0 12 7 22 Date: November 11 Location: Riverfront Stadium, Cincinnati Game start: 1:00 p.m. Game attendance: 52,497 Game weather: 43 °F (6 °C); wind 17 mph (27 km/h) Referee: Ben Dreith

Scoring summary Q1 CIN Jim Breech 21 yard field goal CIN 3–0 Q2 PIT Gary Anderson 47 yard field goal Tie 3–3 Q2 PIT Mark Malone 1 yard run (Gary Anderson kick) PIT 10–3 Q2 PIT Gary Anderson 21 yard field goal PIT 13–3 Q3 CIN James Brooks 24 yard run (kick failed) PIT 13–9 Q3 CIN Jim Breech 42 yard field goal PIT 13–12 Q3 CIN Jim Breech 28 yard field goal CIN 15–13 Q4 PIT Louis Lipps 36 yard run (Gary Anderson kick) PIT 20–15 Q4 CIN Larry Kinnebrew 3 yard run (Jim Breech kick) CIN 22–20

^[8]

Standings

AFC Central
view talk edit	W	L	T	PCT	DIV	CONF	PF	PA	STK
Pittsburgh Steelers(3)	9	7	0	.563	3–3	6–6	387	310	W2
Cincinnati Bengals	8	8	0	.500	5–1	6–6	339	339	W4
Cleveland Browns	5	11	0	.313	3–3	4–8	250	297	W1
Houston Oilers	3	13	0	.188	1–5	3–9	240	437	L2

References

External links

• 1984 Cincinnati Bengals at Pro-Football-Reference.com