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1972 Cincinnati Bengals season
Head Coach Paul Brown
Home Field Riverfront Stadium
Results
Record 8–6–0
Place 3rd AFC Central
Playoff Finish did not qualify
Timeline
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1971 1973

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 over all 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[]

1972 AFC Central Standings
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)

Personnel[]

Staff[]

1972 Cincinnati Bengals final staff
Front Office
  • President – John Sawyer
  • Director of Player Personnel – Pete Brown

Head Coaches

Offensive Coaches

  • Quarterbacks/Receivers – Bill Walsh
  • Offensive Backfield – Jack Donaldson
  • Offensive Line – Bill Johnson
  Defensive Coaches
  • Defensive Coordinator/Defensive Backfield – Chuck Weber
  • Defensive Line – Chuck Studley
  • Linebackers – Vince Costello

Special Teams Coaches

  • None / N/A


Roster[]

1972 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 HB/WR
  • 89 Drew Buie

Tight Ends

Offensive Linemen

  • 50 Tom DeLeone G/C
  • 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 OLB
  • 53 Bill Peterson ILB
  • 55 Jim LeClair ILB
  • 56 Tim Kearney OLB
  • 58 Al Beauchamp OLB
  • 60 Ron Pritchard
  • 66 Bill Bergey MLB

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

Reserve Lists

  • 29 Sandy Durko s (IR)

Awards and records[]

Pro Bowl Selections[]

  • DT Mike Reid
  • WR Chip Myers

References[]

External links[]

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