2005 Cincinnati Bengals season

2005 Cincinnati Bengals season
Head coach	Marvin Lewis
Owner	Mike Brown
Home field	Paul Brown Stadium
Results
Record	11–5
Division place	1st AFC North
Playoff finish	Lost Wild Card
Timeline
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The 2005 Cincinnati Bengals season was the team's 38th year in professional football and its 36th with the National Football League.

2005 was the team's first season with a winning record, playoff berth, and division title since 1990. In the fourteen years and 224 games in between (1991–2004), the Bengals' record was 71-153, a 0.317 winning percentage. It would be the Bengals' lone playoff appearance in a span of 18 years (1991–2008). QB Carson Palmer got off to a strong start on his way to a solid 3836 yard season with 32 Touchdown passes, earning a trip to the Pro Bowl. Receiving many of Palmer's passes was Chad Johnson, who followed teammate Palmer to the Pro Bowl in Hawaii, racking up an impressive 1,432 yards in receiving with nine TDs, many of which were followed by unique celebrations that made him a regular star on the spots highlight shows.

Following a 42-29 win over the Baltimore Ravens, the Bengals faced the Steelers again this time in Pittsburgh, where the Bengals offense continued to fly behind Carson Palmer who had three Touchdown passes and 227 yards passing in an impressive 38-31 win that gave the Bengals first place in the AFC North at 9-3. The Bengals would not relinquish first place winning the next two games to clinch the division with two weeks to go. On December 18, with a 41-17 win over the Detroit Lions, the Bengals clinched a playoff spot. After clinching the division the Bengals played cautiously and dropped their final two games to finish with an 11-5 record, beating out the eventual Super Bowl champion Steelers, who finished with an identical record, on a tiebreaker situation.

Offseason

NFL Draft

Main article: 2005 NFL Draft

2005 Cincinnati Bengals Draft
Round	Pick #	Overall	Name	Position	College
1	17	17	David Pollack	LB	Georgia
2	16	48	Odell Thurman	LB	Georgia
3	19	83	Chris Henry	WR	West Virginia
4	22	119	Eric Ghiaciuc	C	Central Michigan
5	24	153	Adam Kieft	T	Central Michigan
6	29	190	Tab Perry	WR	UCLA
7	17	233	Jonathan Fanene	DE	Utah

Personnel

Staff

2005 Cincinnati Bengals staff
Head Coaches Head Coach – Marvin Lewis Assistant Head Coach/Offensive Line – Paul Alexander Offensive Coaches Offensive Coordinator – Bob Bratkowski Quarterbacks – Ken Zampese Running Backs – Jim Anderson Wide Receivers – Hue Jackson Tight Ends – Jonathan Hayes Assistant Offensive Line – Bob Surace			Defensive Coaches Defensive Coordinator – Chuck Bresnahan Defensive Line – Jay Hayes Linebackers – Ricky Hunley Defensive Backs – Kevin Coyle Assistant Defensive Backs – Louie Cioffi Staff Assistant – Paul Guenther Special Teams Coaches Special Teams – Darrin Simmons Strength and Conditioning Strength and Conditioning – Chip Morton Assistant Strength and Conditioning – Ray Oliver

Roster

2005 Cincinnati Bengals roster
Quarterbacks  3 Jon Kitna  9 Carson Palmer Running Backs 32 Rudi Johnson 31 Jeremi Johnson FB 30 Nick Luchey FB 23 Chris Perry 33 Kenny Watson Wide Receivers 15 Chris Henry 84 T. J. Houshmandzadeh 85 Chad Johnson 88 Tab Perry 83 Kevin Walter 87 Kelley Washington Tight Ends 82 Reggie Kelly 89 Matt Schobel 86 Tony Stewart		Offensive Linemen 71 Willie Anderson T 79 Stacy Andrews T 74 Rich Braham C/G 53 Eric Ghiaciuc C 76 Levi Jones T 75 Scott Kooistra T 50 Larry Moore C/G 65 Eric Steinbach G 63 Bobbie Williams G Defensive Linemen 96 Matthias Askew DT 92 Duane Clemons DE 68 Jonathan Fanene DE 91 Robert Geathers DE 72 Carl Powell DE 90 Justin Smith DE 66 Shaun Smith DT 97 John Thornton DT 98 Bryan Robinson DT/DE		Linebackers 59 Landon Johnson OLB 58 Caleb Miller ILB 57 Hannibal Navies OLB 99 David Pollack OLB 56 Brian Simmons OLB 95 Larry Stevens OLB 51 Odell Thurman ILB 52 Nate Webster ILB 55 Marcus Wilkins OLB Defensive Backs 21 Rashad Bauman CB 41 Patrick Body S 27 Greg Brooks CB 20 Tory James CB 34 Kevin Kaesviharn FS 42 Anthony Mitchell SS 37 Reggie Myles CB 24 Deltha O'Neal CB 26 Ifeanyi Ohalete SS 25 Keiwan Ratliff CB 40 Madieu Williams FS Special Teams 17 Shayne Graham K 19 Kyle Larson P 48 Brad St. Louis LS

Regular season

Schedule

2005 Cincinnati Bengals Schedule
Date	Opponent #	Result	Score	Attendance	Stadium
September 11	at Cleveland Browns	W	27–13	73,013	Cleveland Browns Stadium
September 18	Minnesota Vikings	W	37–8	65,763	Paul Brown Stadium
September 25	at Chicago Bears	W	24–7	62,045	Soldier Field
October 2	Houston Texans	W	16–10	65,714	Paul Brown Stadium
October 9	at Jacksonville Jaguars	L	20–23	66,137	Alltel Stadium
October 16	at Tennessee Titans	W	31–23	69,149	The Coliseum
October 23	Pittsburgh Steelers	L	13–27	66,104	Paul Brown Stadium
October 30	Green Bay Packers	W	21–14	65,940	Paul Brown Stadium
November 6	at Baltimore Ravens	W	21–9	70,540	M&T Bank Stadium
November 20	Indianapolis Colts	L	37–45	65,995	Paul Brown Stadium
November 27	Baltimore Ravens	W	42–29	65,680	Paul Brown Stadium
December 4	at Pittsburgh Steelers	W	38–31	63,044	Heinz Field
December 11	Cleveland Browns	W	23–20	65,788	Paul Brown Stadium
December 18	at Detroit Lions	W	41–17	61,749	Ford Field
December 24	Buffalo Bills	L	27–37	65,485	Paul Brown Stadium
January 1	at Kansas City Chiefs	L	3–37	77,211	Arrowhead Stadium

Standings

AFC North
	W	L	T	PCT	DIV	CONF	PF	PA	STK
Cincinnati Bengals	11	5	0	.688	5–1	7–5	421	350	L2
Pittsburgh Steelers	11	5	0	.688	4–2	7–5	389	258	W4
Baltimore Ravens	6	10	0	.375	2–4	4–8	265	299	L1
Cleveland Browns	6	10	0	.375	1–5	4–8	232	301	W1

Postseason

Game Stats- AFC Wild Card Playoff 1 2 3 4 Total Steelers 0 14 14 3 31 Bengals 10 7 0 0 17 at Paul Brown Stadium, Cincinnati, Ohio Date: Sunday January 8, 2006 Game time: 4:30 p.m. EST Game weather: 61 °F (16 °C), partly cloudy Game attendance: 65,870 Referee: Larry Nemmers TV announcers (CBS): Jim Nantz (play-by-play), Phil Simms (color commentator), Bonnie Bernstein (sideline reporter)

AFC Wild Card playoff vs. Steelers

On January 8, 2006, the Cincinnati Bengals took on the Pittsburgh Steelers in the opening round of the playoffs making it the Bengals first playoff appearance of the decade. Disaster started early for the Bengals when Steelers lineman Kimo von Oelhoffen dove at Bengals quarterback (Carson Palmer)'s knee, resulting in a tear of his ACL (Anterior cruciate ligament). Backup quarterback Jon Kitna took over and did very well, giving Cincinnati leads of 10–0 and 17–7 at points of the game. All seemed well for the Bengals until the Steelers came back with 24 unanswered points and knocked the Cincinnati Bengals out of the playoffs with a final score of 31–17.

Awards and records

Milestones

• Cincinnati Bengals Chad Johnson and T.J. Houshmandzadeh set Bengals records for most receptions (175) and receiving yards (2,388) by a duo.

• The Bengals established a home season attendance record of 526,469 to break the mark of 524,248 set a season earlier.

• Palmer's first six starts of the season, combined with his last three starts of 2004, made him only the second passer in NFL history to post nine straight games with a passer rating of 100 or more (Peyton Manning, 2004)

• Carson Palmer led the NFL in three major passing categories – TD passes (32), completion percentage (67.8) and TD-INT differential (32–12)