1997 Cincinnati Bengals season

1997 Cincinnati Bengals season
Head coachBruce Coslet
Home fieldCinergy Field
Results
Record7–9
Division place4th AFC Central
Playoff finishDid not qualify
Pro BowlersNone

The 1997 Cincinnati Bengals season was the team's 30th season in professional football and its 28th in the National Football League. After winning the first game of the season, the Bengals lost their next seven games to effectively end any playoff hopes. The struggles cost Jeff Blake his starting quarterback job, as former Bengal starting quarterback Boomer Esiason, who was reacquired in the off-season, came back in to lead the Bengals. With Esiason back under center the Bengals started to win as he connected on 13 touchdown passes, while giving up two interceptions. Under Esiason the Bengals won six of their final eight games, to finish with a 7–9 record. Just as the Bengals were ready to give Esiason the job full-time, he got a lucrative offer from ABC-TV to do games on Monday Night Football. Since he would earn more money on ABC he decided to retire.[1] Running back Corey Dillon set a rookie rushing record (since broken) for most yards in a game. On December 4, 1997, Dillon rushed for 246 yards in a game against the Tennessee Oilers.[2]

For the season, the Bengals sported new uniforms and a new logo, which would remain until 2003. The new tiger head logo remains in use today.

Offseason

NFL draft

Main article: 1997 NFL Draft
1997 Cincinnati Bengals draft
Round Pick Player Position College Notes
1 14 Reinard Wilson  Linebacker Florida State
2 43 Corey Dillon *  Running back Washington
3 76 Rod Payne  Center Michigan
4 111 Tremain Mack *  Defensive back Miami (FL)
5 144 Andre Purvis  Defensive tackle North Carolina
6 176 Canute Curtis  Linebacker West Virginia
7 217 William Carr  Defensive tackle Michigan
      Made roster    *   Made at least one Pro Bowl during career

[3]

Personnel

Staff

1997 Cincinnati Bengals staff

Front office

Head coaches

Offensive coaches

Defensive coaches

Special teams coaches

Strength and conditioning

  • Strength and conditioning – Kim Wood


Roster

1997 Cincinnati Bengals roster
Quarterbacks (QB)

Running backs (RB)

Wide receivers (WR)

Tight ends (TE)

Offensive linemen (OL)

Defensive linemen (DL)

Linebackers (LB)

Defensive backs (DB)

Special teams

Practice squad

53 active, 5 inactive, 1 practice squad, 1 exemption Reserve


Rookies in italics

Regular season

Schedule

Week Date Opponent Result Attendance Record
1 August 31 Arizona Cardinals W 24–21 53,644 1–0
2 September 7 at Baltimore Ravens L 23–10 52,968 1–1
3 Bye
4 September 21 at Denver Broncos L 38–20 73,871 1–2
5 September 28 New York Jets L 31–14 57,209 1–3
6 October 5 at Jacksonville Jaguars L 21–13 67,128 1–4
7 October 12 at Tennessee Oilers L 30–7 17,071 1–5
8 October 19 Pittsburgh Steelers L 26–10 60,020 1–6
9 October 26 at New York Giants L 29–27 72,584 1–7
10 November 2 San Diego Chargers W 38–31 53,754 2–7
11 November 9 at Indianapolis Colts W 28–13 58,473 3–7
12 November 16 at Pittsburgh Steelers L 20–3 55,226 3–8
13 November 23 Jacksonville Jaguars W 31–26 55,158 4–8
14 November 30 at Philadelphia Eagles L 44–42 66,623 4–9
15 December 4 Tennessee Oilers W 41–14 49,086 5–9
16 December 14 Dallas Cowboys W 31–24 60,043 6–9
17 December 21 Baltimore Ravens W 16–14 50,917 7–9
Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

Standings

AFC Central
W L T PCT PF PA STK
(2) Pittsburgh Steelers 11 5 0 .688 372 307 L1
(5) Jacksonville Jaguars 11 5 0 .688 394 318 W2
Tennessee Oilers 8 8 0 .500 333 310 W1
Cincinnati Bengals 7 9 0 .438 355 405 W3
Baltimore Ravens 6 9 1 .406 326 345 L1

Team leaders

Passing

Player Att Comp Yds TD INT Rating
Jeff Blake 317 184 2125 8 7 77.6
Boomer Esiason 186 118 1478 13 2 106.9

Rushing

Player Att Yds YPC Long TD
Corey Dillon 233 1129 4.8 66 10

Receiving

Player Rec Yds Avg Long TD
Darnay Scott 54 797 14.8 77 5
Tony McGee 34 414 12.2 37 6

Defense

Player Tackles Sacks INTs FF FR
Sam Shade 96 4.0 1 1 1
Gerald Dixon 50 8.5 0 1 0
Corey Sawyer 31 0.0 4 0 0

Kicking and punting

Player FGA FGM FG% XPA XPM XP% Points
Doug Pelfrey 16 12 75.0% 43 41 95.3% 77
Player Punts Yards Long Blkd Avg.
Lee Johnson 81 3471 66 0 42.9

Special teams

Player KR KRYards KRAvg KRLong KRTD PR PRYards PRAvg PRLong PRTD
Eric Bieniemy 34 789 23.2 102 1 0 0 0.0 0 0
Greg Myers 0 0 0.0 0 0 26 201 7.7 18 0

Awards and records

  • Corey Dillon, Franchise Record (since broken), Most Rushing Yards in One Game, 246 yards vs. Tennessee Oilers (achieved on December 4, 1997) [2]
  • Corey Dillon, Rookie Record (since broken), Most Rushing Yards in One Game, 246 yards vs. Tennessee Oilers (achieved on December 4, 1997)
  • Corey Dillon, Franchise Record (tied), Most Points in One Game, 24 Points vs. Tennessee Oilers (achieved on December 4, 1997) [4]
  • Corey Dillon, Franchise Record (tied), Most Touchdowns in One Game, 4 TD's vs. Tennessee Oilers (achieved on December 4, 1997) [4]

Milestones

  • Corey Dillon, 1st 1000 yard rushing season (1,129 rushing yards) [5]

References

  1. ^ "Season summary and statistics". Sports E Cylclopedia.
  2. ^ a b NFL 2001 Record and Fact Book. New York: Workman Publishing Co. p. 438. ISBN 0-7611-2480-2.
  3. ^ "1997 Cincinnati Bengals Draftees". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved January 28, 2014.
  4. ^ a b NFL 2001 Record and Fact Book. Workman Publishing Co. p. 37.
  5. ^ NFL 2001 Record and Fact Book. Workman Publishing Co. p. 436.
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