2005 Cincinnati Bengals season

Offseason

NFL draft

Main article: 2005 NFL draft

Undrafted free agents

Personnel

• President – Mike Brown

• Head coach – Marvin Lewis

• Assistant head coach/offensive line – Paul Alexander

• 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 coordinator – Chuck Bresnahan

• Defensive line – Jay Hayes

• Linebackers – Ricky Hunley

• Defensive backs – Kevin Coyle

• Assistant defensive backs – Louie Cioffi

• Special teams – Darrin Simmons

• Staff assistant – Paul Guenther

• Strength and conditioning – Chip Morton

• Assistant strength and conditioning – Ray Oliver

Roster

Regular season

In addition to their regular games with AFC North rivals, the Bengals played teams from the AFC South and NFC North as per the schedule rotation, and also played intraconference games against the Bills and the Chiefs based on divisional positions from 2004.

Schedule

Note: Intra-divisional opponents are in bold text

Week 1

• Rudi Johnson 26 Rush, 126 Yds

Week 8 vs Packers

;Packers

• Brett Favre 26/39, 279 Yds, TD, 5 INT
• Tony Fisher 17 Rush, 51 Yds, TD
• Antonio Chatman 8 Rec, 97 Yds ;Bengals
• Carson Palmer 22/34, 237 Yds, 3 TD, INT
• Rudi Johnson 22 Rush, 72 Yds
• T.J. Houshmanzadeh 5 Rec, 77 Yds, TD

Standings

Postseason

Wild Card vs Steelers

;Steelers

• Ben Roethlisberger 14/19, 208 Yds, 3 TD
• Jerome Bettis 10 Rush, 52 Yds, TD
• Cedrick Wilson 3 Rec, 104 Yds, TD ;Bengals
• Jon Kitna 24/40, 197 Yds, TD, 2 INT
• Rudi Johnson 13 Rush, 56 Yds, TD
• Kevin Walter 5 Rec, 73 Yds

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. Early in the game, disaster struck for the Bengals when Steelers lineman Kimo von Oelhoffen hit Bengals quarterback Carson Palmer's knee, resulting in a tear of Palmer's anterior cruciate ligament (ACL). 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 upset the Cincinnati Bengals with a final score of 31–17. The Steelers went on to win the Super Bowl.

With the costly loss, the Bengals season ended at 11–6, thus once again it extended their playoff win drought to 16 years.

Team leaders

Passing

Rushing

Receiving

Defensive

Kicking and punting

Special teams

Awards and records

Pro Bowl Selections

• Carson Palmer QB, AFC Pro-Bowl Selection
• Rudi Johnson RB, AFC Pro-Bowl Selection
• Chad Johnson WR, AFC Pro-Bowl Selection
• Willie Anderson RT, AFC Pro-Bowl Selection
• Deltha O'Neal CB, AFC Pro-Bowl Selection

All-Pro Award

• Chad Johnson WR, 1st Team All-Pro
• Willie Anderson RT, 1st Team All-Pro
• Deltha O'Neal CB, 1st Team All-Pro

Milestones

• Carson 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)
• Rudi Johnson, 2nd 1000 yard rushing season (1,458 yards)
• Chad Johnson 4th 1000 yard receiving season
• Tab Perry, 1st 1000-yard return season (1,562 yards)

Records

• 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.

References

References

1. [http://pfref.com/tiny/4MY69 Pro-Football-Reference.com: In multiple seasons, from 1991 to 2004, playing for the Cincinnati Bengals, in the regular season, sorted by descending Date.]
2. Curnette, Mark. (December 19, 2005). "Biggest splash of them all". Cincinnati Enquirer.
3. [http://www.sportsecyclopedia.com/nfl/cincy/bengals.html Season summary and statistics at Sports E Cyclopedia]
4. "2005 Cincinnati Bengals draftees". Pro-Football-Reference.com.
5. [http://www.footballdb.com/games/boxscore.html?gid=2005091102 The Football Database]. Retrieved 2016-Sep-16.
6. [http://www.sportsecyclopedia.com/nfl/cincy/bengals.html Season summary and statistics at Sports E Cyclopedia]
7. "Chad Johnson Stats, News and Video - WR".
8. "Rudi Johnson Stats".
9. "Chad Johnson Stats".
10. "Tab Perry Stats".