The 2004 Cincinnati Bengals season was the team's 37th year in professional football and its 35th with the National Football League (NFL). The Bengals began to focus on the future, trading All-Pro running back Corey Dillon to the New England Patriots. That cleared the way for Rudi Johnson to start at running back. Carson Palmer was given the starting quarterback job. He sat out the 2003 season, making 2004 his rookie year. Palmer and the young Bengals would struggle early, losing five of their first seven games. As the season wore on, the Bengals began to hit their stride, as they climbed back to .500, at 6–6, before a sprained knee sent Palmer to the sidelines during a 35–28 road loss to the eventual Super Bowl champion New England Patriots.
With wins in their final two games, the Bengals would finish 8–8 for the second year in a row. Rudi Johnson finished sixth in the NFL in rushing with 1,454 yards, giving Bengals fans hope for the future.
This season would see the Bengals make their first appearance on Monday Night Football since 1992, a win at home against the Denver Broncos on October 25.
Offseason
NFL draft
Personnel
Roster
Regular season The 2004 season constituted the first time since 1991 that the Bengals played the Washington Redskins, and the match produced their first ever away win over that franchise.Cincinnati Bengals v Washington Redskins The reason for this is that before the admission of the Texans in 2002, NFL scheduling formulas for games outside a team’s division were much more influenced by table position during the previous season.
Schedule Week Date Opponent Result Record Venue Recap 1 September 12 at New York Jets L 24–31 0–1 Giants Stadium Recap 2 September 19 Miami Dolphins W 16–131–1 Paul Brown StadiumRecap 3 September 26 Baltimore Ravens L 9–23 1–2 Paul Brown StadiumRecap 4 October 3 at Pittsburgh Steelers L 17–28 1–3 Heinz FieldRecap 5 Bye 6 October 17 at Cleveland Browns L 17–34 1–4 Cleveland Browns StadiumRecap 7 Denver Broncos W 23–10 2–4 Paul Brown StadiumRecap 8 October 31 at Tennessee Titans L 20–27 2–5 The ColiseumRecap 9 November 7 Dallas Cowboys W 26–3 3–5 Paul Brown StadiumRecap 10 November 14 at Washington Redskins W 17–10 4–5 FedEx FieldRecap 11 November 21 Pittsburgh Steelers L 14–19 4–6 Paul Brown StadiumRecap 12 November 28 Cleveland Browns W 58–48 5–6 Paul Brown StadiumRecap 13 December 5 at Baltimore Ravens W 27–26 6–6 M&T Bank Stadium Recap 14 December 12 at New England Patriots L 28–35 6–7 Gillette StadiumRecap 15 December 19 Buffalo Bills L 17–336–8Paul Brown StadiumRecap 16 December 26 New York Giants W 23–22 7–8Paul Brown StadiumRecap 17 January 2 at Philadelphia Eagles W 38–10 8–8 Lincoln Financial FieldRecap Note: Intra-divisional opponents are in bold text
Season summary Week 2
The win snapped the Bengals' nine-game losing streak against the Dolphins, beating them for the first time since the 1977 season.
Standings
Team leaders
Passing Player Att Comp Yds TD INT Rating Carson Palmer 432 263 2897 18 18 77.3
Rushing Player Att Yds YPC Long TD Rudi Johnson 361 1454 4.0 52 12
Receiving Player Rec Yds Avg Long TD Chad Johnson 95 1274 13.4 53 9
Defensive Player Tackles Sacks INTs FF FR Landon Johnson 133 2.0 0 1 1 Justin Smith 97 8.0 0 2 2 Tory James 74 0.0 8 2 1
Kicking and punting Player FGA FGM FG% XPA XPM XP% Points Shayne Graham 31 27 87.1% 41 41 100.0% 122 Player Punts Yards Long Blkd Avg. Kyle Larson 83 3499 66 1 42.2
Special teams Player KR KRYards KRAvg KRLong KRTD PR PRYards PRAvg PRLong PRTD Cliff Russell 39 872 22.4 40 0 0 0 0.0 0 0 Keiwan Ratliff 0 0 0.0 0 0 17 207 12.2 49 0
Awards and records
Pro Bowl selections Rudi Johnson RB, AFC Pro Bowl selection Chad Johnson WR, AFC Pro Bowl selection Willie Anderson RT, AFC Pro Bowl selection Tory James CB, AFC Pro Bowl selection
All-Pro selections Willie Anderson RT, first-team All-Pro
Milestones Rudi Johnson, 1st 1000 yard rushing season (1,454 yards) Chad Johnson, 3rd 1000 yard receiving season (1,274 yards) NFL records 2nd Highest scoring regular season game in NFL history (58–48 win over the Cleveland Browns on November 28, 2004)
References
External links
2004 Cincinnati Bengals at Pro-Football-Reference.com