Worst Bengal's moment?

[ODRAB14]

Gus Frerotte's left hand throw!!!!




Lewis Billup's Drop and Krumrie getting hurt

Carson Palmer's knee---that team had that momentum you see now with teams

[GodFather07]

Montana throwing the game winning touchdown with 30 seconds left to win the Super Bowl. We were 30 seconds away from being Super Bowl champions..

[THE PISTONS]

Originally Posted by Mr. Hopeful

I have always said seeing Carson Palmer getting hurt in the Steelers game. I believe that was 2005.

I have always said that that was our year to win the SB. We almost beat the Steelers with Kitna and The Steelers went on to win the SB that year.

That's probably mine too.

[urinalcake]

Originally Posted by WhoDey90

For my lifetime, definitely the 2005 Wild Card game against the Steelers. Crushed me and changed the trajectory of the franchise.

+1

[urinalcake]

Originally Posted by Arturo Bandini

The missed pat in Denver in 2006.

I was at this game. Long walk out of the stadium in the freezing cold.

[LeTigre]

The day Mike Brown took over as head of the Bengals.

[umkubas]

The worst moment for myself in watching 160 regular season games and 3 playoff defeats, would be:

a) the 2005, 2009, and 2011 wild card defeats

b) the laughable and inept play of the Cincinnati Bengals in the games I have attended (the 2009 Mall of America Field loss and the "beat down" in the 2012 opening week loss at M & T Bank Stadium)

c) the probability of a fourth wild card defeat

[Carlos Spicyweiner]

Originally Posted by Interceptor

When Paul Brown passed away..... RIP

Rep for the sig!

[goalpost]

Super Bowl XXIII was both the highest and lowest. Losing on the final series was rough.
Stanford Jennings' return, and the Freezer Bowl game, are the high points for me.

[Brunz]

1. Carson's ACL injury. Was our year.

2. Chris Henry's death.

3. 2009 playoff loss. Had high hopes for that team but the jets man handled us.

[brm13]

There are a number or excellent candidates on the list. Since the thread title is about moments I won't list not hiring Bill Walsh or the 90s era Mike Brown front office decisions (the inexplicably bad drafts, Shula, keeping Shula, Coslet, etc...).

The moments that still burn on my brain years later, in order:

Anderson's pick on the first drive (or at least very early) of SB 16. Collinsworth's fumble in the first half near the 10. The SB 16 goal line stand. That game is the single most 'lost opportunity' in franchise history; IMO it was catastrophic. I continue to believe that the franchise would have multiple SB wins (at least the two they were in) and many more playoff appearances if they win that game. It would have implanted the Paul Brown championship DNA in the Bengals. Everyone (players, coaches, fans, media) would have treated the franchise like founding royalty and the much higher expectations would have made the 80s special and the 90s couldn't have happened, even MB would have had higher expectations.

Carson writhing on the turf in the 2005 playoffs against Steelers. After the Lost Decade my hopes were high; probably too high. I had a total meltdown. Like everyone else, I knew that we'd lost the game/season--to the ****ing Steelers, no less! My mind mentally pairs this with Big Ben snagging the shoelace of the Colts DB who should have been giving Pittsburgh their most painful loss ever in the AFC championship game but he can't out juke Ben to get to the Superbowl. Just awful. Carson hurt, Bengals lose, Steelers and Cowher get a SB (I always hated Cowher; can't hate on Tomlin so much, he seems like a decent guy).

The feeling that we would really really really regret not getting another first down before Breech kicked the go ahead kick in SB 23. The converted 3rd and 20 on the ensuing drive and the final punch in the gut when Taylor makes the game winning catch. I don't rank this game higher on the lowlight list because I had already become a bit of a fatalist and couldn't believe they were really going to win even when it looked like they really could.

First honorable mention: losing a wild card game in Oakland to the raiders in 1975. That Raiders team was very good. So were the Bengals and they made a valiant effort--lost by 3 I think and had the ball late driving before Ted Hendricks (a tall DL/LB nicknamed the Stork) took over.

Second honorable mention: The shank Graham game in 2006 where he missed the short kick for the playoffs--against the Steelers again!

Third honorable mention: Giving away a game in Houston (end of 1976?) to miss the playoffs by a game. The Oilers were bad to mediocre in those days. The Bengals had just beaten the Steelers to effectively 'win' the division, but they didn't win the gimme to close out the season. In those days they missed the wild card because there was only one spot.

This is a sad list. A superbowl they really coulda/woulda/shoulda won only ranks third! A lot of pain over the years.

[Wyche'sWarrior]

Originally Posted by GodFather07

Montana throwing the game winning touchdown with 30 seconds left to win the Super Bowl. We were 30 seconds away from being Super Bowl champions..

34 seconds.....

Hands down, the day Mike took over and then fired Sam Wyche.....

[NashvilleBengalfan]

Originally Posted by Shady

Again, Lewis Billups' dropped INT in the Super Bowl.

Ouch that one hurt!

[Robbie Sharp]

Originally Posted by Hammerstripes

I'll split this up into different eras since I have very distinct memories of all of these:

80s
1. The first Bengals Super Bowl against the 49ers. The goal line stand by the 49ers, the turnovers by the Bengals. The whole game just eats at me.

2. The 2nd Super Bowl and the seeing the 49ers with 3 plus minutes left on the clock and just knowing deep down in my gut that we had no chance of winning that game with Montana on the other side.

90s.
1. The draft. It's hard to distinguish between all of these, but I still sit back and wonder how in the world we could have made the following picks:

Klingler over Troy Vincent, Big Daddy over Marshall Faulk, Akili Smith over "the package from the Saints" and Champ Bailey, and finally when we have the chance to take a malcontent, we decide to pass twice on Randy Moss.

2000s.

Without question the Palmer/Henry injuries in the playoff game. A close second was the death of Henry. For some reason that really got me.

THIS pretty much sums it up, save for the early years when Greg Cook was hurt, and choosing Tiger Johnson over Bill Walsh. Nice summary , Hammerstripes!

[bengaljunky86]

the carson palmer chris henry injuries are prolly my #1 we would have won the superbowl that year imo

i know we had some bad drafts in the 90s but that 05 draft to me was down right snake bitten and has to go down as one of the worst/tragic drafts ever

1st rd pick david pollack...showed promise but a neck injury ended his career
2nd rd pick...odell thurman awsome player...but would rather get high and drank himself out of the league
3rd rd pick...chris henry alot of off the feild problems preformed well but ended up dying to soon
4th rd pick eric ghiaciuc need i say more?
5th rd pick adam keift...injured his acl sat out his first 2 years and never recovered
6th rd pick tab perry i liked him on KOs but was nothing special
7th rd pick prolly the best pick in the draft jonathan fanene solid player throughout his career in cincy

[TremaineMackAttack]

1. I would have to say the moment Billups dropped the 4th Q INT against Montana and the 49ers in '88. You just knew that they would not be denied following that missed opportunity. Sad b/c i do think the 90's would've been much much different if we'd had won that SB.

2. The 1990's. Literally a case-study in mismanagement at almost every level. Spinney Field, Dave Shula (think about his qualifications for a second!), Akili Smith, John Copeland/Big Daddy,

3. '06 Steelers Game - Shank missing that FG and losing in OT was a huge psychological set-back at the time. Following the '05 bad luck ending, the Bengals were out to prove they were a 'new team' but reverted back to their 'Bungle' ways.

I do not rank the '05 Carson Palmer game simply b/c while I do think we would've won that game, I don't think we were guaranteed anything. Yes, we had an explosive offence but people tend to forget our Defense was NOT that special. We had an OK Dline, below average LB's (Thurman being the exception). Our Safties were Horrible and our CB's were OK. Yes, we could score but i also worried about us stopping other teams at times (i.e Pit still dropped 30+ on us....Palmer did not play D!)

[ctfan73]

1) Montana to Taylor - still feel that in the pit of my stomach.

2) SBXVI, no single moment, just a series of errors that led to the loss, best Bengal team ever IMO, by a hair over the '88 team.

3) Palmer knee injury in '05 playoffs.

4) Loss to Oilers in the last game of the '77 season to blow the playoffs a week after beating the Steelers to get in position to make them. (yes I'm old).

5) 1987 loss to the 49ers after Sam Wyche went for it on 4th down on his own 30 yard line with 6 seconds left. Just handed them the game.

[bwh]

1 Montana to Taylor with 34 second remaining.That one will always hurt until if/when Bengals win a SB

2 SB 16 goalline stand on Pete Johnson

3 Carson Plamer injury in 2005 playoffs. The Bengals looked like an up and coming team. Never panned out that way.

4 missed extra point in Denver on Chistmas Eve 2006.

5 Loss to Vikings on Monday Night Football on Christmas Day 1989. Cost Bengals a playoff spot

6 1987 49ers game where the Bengals couldn'r run out the clock and left two seconds for Montana/Rice

7 missed FG against Steelers in last game of '06 season whicch cost Benagls playoff spot

[CincySin21]

Someone already said it but it was just painful to watch the missed XP... just heartbreaking.





and then this.............................................. ...


http://www.nfl.com/videos/cincinnati...ame-winning-TD


It still hurts, it still hurts.

[bfine32]

59:21 of SB XXIII

[JADefense]

Originally Posted by ctfan73

1) Montana to Taylor - still feel that in the pit of my stomach.

2) SBXVI, no single moment, just a series of errors that led to the loss, best Bengal team ever IMO, by a hair over the '88 team.

3) Palmer knee injury in '05 playoffs.

4) Loss to Oilers in the last game of the '77 season to blow the playoffs a week after beating the Steelers to get in position to make them. (yes I'm old).

5) 1987 loss to the 49ers after Sam Wyche went for it on 4th down on his own 30 yard line with 6 seconds left. Just handed them the game.

I remember #5. One of the dumbest calls of all time. It makes Marvin's calls in Pittsburgh look good.

[pat5775]

Originally Posted by JADefense

I remember #5. One of the dumbest calls of all time. It makes Marvin's calls in Pittsburgh look good.

You think those were bad? Wait until you see some of the calls he makes in Houston tomorrow...

[fredtoast]

Most of mine have already been mentioned, but here are a couple more.

Gary Reasons flipping Shula's hat off on the sidelines when David tried to get in his face. Talk about having a hopeless feeling about a coach.

The fourth game of the '06 season. Going into that Game Sports Illustrated had us ranked as the #1 team in the entire league and the Patriots kicked our azz all over the field. I know we have lost bigger games, but that one was a real dream crusher.

The entire '10 season. People forget how high our expectations were going into that year. Again, we have played that badly many other seasons, but the high expectations made it even harder to take.

[Go Cards]

Each and every loss to the steelers, and of course the Billups "right in the bread basket drop".

But when Jack Lambert picked Kenny Anderson up, flipped him upside down, and did a pile driver on him into the ground head first separating his shoulder and ending his and the Bengals promising season. About 10 seconds after the whistle was blown and both teams were walking to their huddles.

Cheapest shot ever in NFL history.

Also when Carson was hurt right in front of my seat in Playoffs and two steeler fans sitting next to me high fived and toasted it with their beers.

First time ever that I considered hitting somebody at a game. Lucky for them Lambert had already seasoned me in their classless ways years earlier and was not suprised one bit by this.

[Trilok]

Originally Posted by LeTigre

The day Mike Brown took over as head of the Bengals.

LMAO!!!

I remember Krumrie's leg, Montana's pass, Carson's injury and every bad thing that's happened since 1968...I'm 55 years old