1972 Cincinnati Bengals season

1972 Cincinnati Bengals season
Head coach	Paul Brown
Home field	Riverfront Stadium
Results
Record	8–6–0
Division place	3rd AFC Central
Playoff finish	did not qualify
Timeline
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The 1972 Cincinnati Bengals season was the team's fifth year in professional football and its third with the National Football League. Starting off the 1972 season winning 5 of 7 games, this looked to be the Bengals break out year, that was until the away game at Pittsburgh, the Bengals suffered a devastating 40–17 loss, then coupled with 2 fairly close loses at home against Oakland (20–14) and Baltimore 20–19, the 1971 season was in a tail spin. Paul Brown gave his rookie quarterback Ken Anderson the starting job, winning 3 out of the last 4 games giving the Bengals an overall 8–6 season, but not good enough for the playoffs once again.

Three times in their history, the Bengals have won without scoring a touchdown, including Sept. 24, 1972 when K Horst Muhlmann's five field goals (41, 32, 20, 32, 34) fueled a 15–10 victory over Pittsburgh at Riverfront Stadium (later renamed Cinergy Field).

Twice in Bengals history, two Cincinnati players have broken the 100-yard rushing mark in the same game, with the first coming Oct. 29, 1972 when RB Doug Dressler gained 110 yards and HB Essex Johnson ran for 103 yards in a 30–7 win vs. Houston.

The latest-drafted player ever to make the Bengals roster for a regular-season game was K-P Dave Green of Ohio University. Green was the 418th selection in the 1972 draft, taken in the 17th round. He didn't make the roster in 1972, and had a brief stint (no games played) with Houston in '73 before being re-acquired by Cincinnati.

Offseason

NFL Draft

1972 Cincinnati Bengals Draft
Round	Pick #	Overall	Name	Position	College
1	2	2	Sherman White	Defensive End	California
2	3	29	Tommy Casanova	Defensive Back	LSU
3	2	54	Jim LeClair	Linebacker	North Dakota
4	3	81	Bernard Jackson	Defensive Back	Washington State
5	2	106	Tom DeLeone	Center	Ohio State
7	2	158	Steve Conley	Running Back	Kansas
8	3	185	Dan Kratzer	Wide Receiver	Missouri Valley
9	2	210	Stan Walters	Offensive Tackle	Syracuse
10	3	237	Brian Foster	Defensive Back	Colorado
11	1	261	Kent Pederson	Tight End	California-Santa Barbara
12	3	289	Frederick Wegis	Defensive Back	Cal Poly-SLO
13	2	314	James Hamilton	Quarterback	Arizona State
14	3	341	Steve Porter	Wide Receiver	Indiana
15	2	366	Hosea Minnieweather	Defensive Tackle	Jackson State
16	3	393	John Wiegman	Wide Receiver	Cal Poly-Pomona
17	2	418	David Green	Punter	Ohio

Regular season

Schedule

1972 Cincinnati Bengals schedule
Date	Opponent #	Result	Score	Attendance	Stadium
September 17	at New England Patriots	W	31–7	60,999	Schaefer Stadium
September 24	Pittsburgh Steelers	W	15–10	54,292	Riverfront Stadium
October 1	at Cleveland Browns	L	6–27	81,564	Cleveland Stadium
October 8	Denver Broncos	W	21–10	55,812	Riverfront Stadium
October 15	at Kansas City Chiefs	W	23–16	79,068	Arrowhead Stadium
October 22	at Los Angeles Rams	L	12–15	73,385	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum
October 29	Houston Oilers	W	30–7	59,409	Riverfront Stadium
November 5	at Pittsburgh Steelers	L	17–40	50,350	Three Rivers Stadium
November 12	Oakland Raiders	L	14–20	59,485	Riverfront Stadium
November 19	Baltimore Colts	L	19–20	49,512	Riverfront Stadium
November 26	at Chicago Bears	W	13–3	55,701	Soldier Field
December 3	New York Giants	W	13–10	59,523	Riverfront Stadium
December 9	Cleveland Browns	L	24–27	59,524	Riverfront Stadium
December 17	at Houston Oilers	W	61–17	32,482	Astrodome

Standings

AFC Central
	W	L	T	PCT	PF	PA	STK
Pittsburgh Steelers	11	3	0	.786	343	175	W-4
Cleveland Browns	10	4	0	.714	268	249	W-2
Cincinnati Bengals	8	6	0	.571	299	229	W-1
Houston Oilers	1	13	0	.071	164	380	L-11

Team stats

1972 Cincinnati Bengals Team Stats
TEAM STATS	Bengals	Opponents
TOTAL FIRST DOWNS	255	207
Rushing	112	98
Passing	122	92
Penalty	21	17
TOTAL NET YARDS	4317	3552
Avg Per Game	308.4	253.7
Total Plays	899	794
Avg. Per Play	4.8	4.5
NET YARDS RUSHING	1996	1815
Avg. Per Game	142.6	129.6
Total Rushes	491	406
NET YARDS PASSING	2321	1737
Avg. Per Game	165.8	124.1
Sacked Yards Lost	24–192	38–296
Gross Yards	2513	2033
Att. Completions	384–219	350–167
Completion Pct.	57.0	47.7
Intercepted	11	20
PUNTS-AVERAGE	66–42.1	84.42.4
PENALTIES-YARDS	76–738	69–581
FUMBLES-BALL LOST	28–18	30–9
TOUCHDOWNS	31	24
Rushing	16	11
Passing	10	11
Returns	5	2

Score by Periods	1	2	3	4	Tot
Bengals	36	62	99	102	299
Opponents	37	79	42	71	229

Team leaders

• Passing: Ken Anderson (301 Att, 171 Comp, 1918 Yds, 56.8 Pct, 7 TD, 7 Int, 74.0 Rating)
• Rushing: Essex Johnson (212 Att, 825 Yds, 3.9 Avg, 19 Long, 4 TD)
• Receiving: Chip Myers (57 Rec, 792 Yds, 13.9 Avg, 42 Long, 3 TD)
• Scoring: Horst Muhlmann, 111 points (27 FG; 30 PAT)

Roster

Cincinnati Bengals roster
Quarterbacks 11 Virgil Carter 12 Greg Cook 14 Ken Anderson Running Backs 18 Paul Robinson 19 Essex Johnson 26 Morris Reece 30 Jess Phillips 33 Fred Willis 38 Steve Conley 40 Pete Watson 44 Doug Dressler Wide Receivers 17 Speedy Thomas 18 Charlie Joiner 25 Chip Myers 89 Drew Buie Tight Ends 88 Bruce Coslet 84 Bob Trumpy 87 Mike Kelly		Offensive Linemen 50 Tom DeLeone G 54 Bob Johnson C 63 Guy Dennis G 68 Steve Lawson G 71 Rufus Mayes T 72 Howard Fest G 73 Pat Matson G 75 Stan Walters T 76 Vernon Holland T Defensive Linemen 70 Ron Carpenter DT 74 Mike Reid DT 79 Steve Chomyszak DT 80 Ken Johnson DE 83 Sherman White DE 82 Royce Berry DE		Linebackers 51 Ken Avery 52 Doug Adams 53 Bill Peterson 55 Jim LeClair 56 Tim Kearney 58 Al Beauchamp 60 Ron Pritchard 66 Bill Bergey Defensive Backs 13 Ken Riley CB 20 Lamar Parrish CB 23 Bernard Jackson S 24 Ernie Kellermann S 27 Al Randolph CB 34 Neal Craig S 29 Sandy Durko S 37 Tommy Casanova S Special Teams 15 Dave Lewis P 16 Horst Muhlmann K

Awards and records

Pro Bowl Selections

• DT Mike Reid
• WR Chip Myers

References

• Bengals on Pro Football Reference
• Bengals Schedule on jt-sw.com
• Bengals History on Official Site