The 1972 Cincinnati Bengals season was the franchise's 3rd season in the National Football League, and the 5th overall. Starting off the 1972 season winning five of seven games, the Bengals looked primed to win the division as they had in 1970. They lost a key divisional game at Pittsburgh, 40–17, followed by a pair of close losses at home against Oakland (20–14) and Baltimore (20–19). Head coach Paul Brown gave Ken Anderson the starting quarterback job, and the Bengals responded by winning three out of the last four 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 September 24, 1972, when kicker 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 October 29, 1972, when fullback Doug Dressler gained 110 yards and halfback Essex Johnson ran for 103 yards in a 30–7 win versus 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 did not make the roster in 1972 and had a brief stint (no games played) with Houston in 1973 before being re-acquired by Cincinnati.

Offseason

NFL draft

Personnel

Staff

Roster

Regular season

Schedule Week Date Opponent Result Record Venue Recap 1 September 17 at New England Patriots W 31–7 1–0 Schaefer Stadium Recap 2 September 24 Pittsburgh Steelers W 15–10 2–0 Riverfront Stadium Recap 3 October 1 at Cleveland Browns L 6–27 2–1 Cleveland Stadium Recap 4 October 8 Denver Broncos W 21–10 3–1 Riverfront Stadium Recap 5 October 15 at Kansas City Chiefs W 23–16 4–1 Arrowhead Stadium Recap 6 October 22 at Los Angeles Rams L 12–15 4–2 Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Recap 7 October 29 Houston Oilers W 30–7 5–2 Riverfront Stadium Recap 8 November 5 at Pittsburgh Steelers L 17–40 5–3 Three Rivers Stadium Recap 9 November 12 Oakland Raiders L 14–20 5–4 Riverfront Stadium Recap 10 November 19 Baltimore Colts L 19–20 5–5 Riverfront Stadium Recap 11 November 26 at Chicago Bears W 13–3 6–5 Soldier Field Recap 12 December 3 New York Giants W 13–10 7–5 Riverfront Stadium Recap 13 Cleveland Browns L 24–27 7–6 Riverfront Stadium Recap 14 December 17 at Houston Oilers W 61–17 8–6 Astrodome Recap Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

Season summary

Week 1 at Patriots

Standings

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 69–581FUMBLES-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)

Awards and records

Pro Bowl selections DT Mike Reid WR Chip Myers

References

External links 1972 Cincinnati Bengals at Pro-Football-Reference.com