1975 Cincinnati Bengals: Paul Brown’s Last Ride

Paul Brown is one of professional football’s all-time legends. He built the Cleveland franchise over a 17-year stretch in the pre-Super Bowl era when he brought the city three NFL championships, and the team was named after him. A rift with owner Art Modell got him fired after the 1962 season. Brown stayed out of football until 1968, when he became owner and head coach of the expansion Cincinnati Bengals. He reached the playoffs three more times, including in his final season of 1975.

KEN ANDERSON & A CUTTING-EDGE PASSING GAME

Brown had a rising star at quarterback with 26-year-old Ken Anderson. In ’75, Anderson’s 61 percent completion rate ranked second in the league. His 8.4 YPA and 3,169 total passing yards both led the NFL. With a 2.9 percent interception rate, he ranked second at avoiding mistakes. Anderson did everything well. He finished fifth in the MVP voting, although it bears noting that in this run-heavy era he was the second quarterback in the final balloting, trailing only the winner, Fran Tarkenton.

Isaac Curtis was a big-time receiver, catching 44 passes at better than 21 yards a pop, the best yards-per-catch average among receivers with enough receptions to qualify. Charlie Joiner caught 37 balls and averaged 19.6 per catch. Chip Myers, with his 36 receptions, averaged a 14.6 YPC.

The Bengals, with an assistant coach named Bill Walsh, were integrating their running backs into the passing game. Boobie Clark caught 49 balls, to go along with his team-leading 549 yards rushing.

Cincinnati’s running game overall wasn’t great. Clark only ran for 594 yards. Even allowing that it was only a 14-game regular season schedule at this time, that’s still pretty low, and it came at the cost of just 3.6 yards-per-rush. Stan Fritts and Lenvil Elliott also chipped in with the running game. In the end, it was enough, combined with Anderson’s versatile passing game, for the Bengals to rank ninth in the NFL for points scored.

AN OPPORTUNISTIC SECONDARY

The defense was led by its secondary. Corner Lemar Parrish made the Pro Bowl, and Ken Riley intercepted six passes on the opposite corner. Free safety Bernard Jackson added five more picks. Cincinnati didn’t have stars in the front seven, but they played consistent football and were opportunistic. The defense ranked sixth in the league for points allowed.

A FAST START & A CITY RIDING HIGH

The Bengals opened the season at home against their head coach’s old friends in Cleveland. The Browns had fallen on hard times and would be terrible in 1975. The team coached by their namesake got that process started. Anderson hit Curtis for a 27-yard touchdown strike and Clark ran 14 yards for another score. Cincinnati had a quick 14-0 lead. Anderson went 17/27 for 287 yards, while Curtis caught six balls for 127 yards. Cleveland tried to rally, but the Bengals closed a 24-17 win.

Cincinnati went on the road to play lowly New Orleans. Anderson hit Curtis on a 52-yard TD pass. Later, the pair connected on a five-yard scoring play. In between, Anderson tossed a 14-yard touchdown to Joiner. The quarterback finished 17/22 for 203 yards, the defense was dominant, and the result was a 21-0 win.

A road trip to play a competitive Houston Oilers team (today’s Tennessee Titans) would be a tougher test. The Bengals trailed 17-7 in the fourth quarter. But Anderson was still finding ways to move the ball through the air. He finished 19/28 for 210 yards and tossed late TD passes to Fritts and Curtis. Anderson also got sacked for a safety, which made it a little interesting, but Cincinnati still escaped with a 21-19 win.

On October 12, the Bengals hosted a bad New England Patriots team. Local fans were quite likely more interested in another Cincinnati-Boston game going on that day—the one the Cincinnati Reds were playing at Fenway Park in Game 2 of the World Series. The Bengals were outrushed 208-174 on the ground. But they could throw the ball and the Patriots couldn’t. Cincinnati moved their record to 4-0 with a 27-10 win.

SHOWDOWNS WITH MADDEN & THE STEEL CURTAIN

A big showdown awaited at home with the Oakland Raiders, a consistent contender coached by John Madden. Playing in the late afternoon, the game was tied 7-7 in the third quarter. It was a physical game, with both Anderson and Raider counterpart Ken Stabler, throwing four picks. But Stabler threw the biggest one in the third quarter—an interception that Cincy defensive back Marvin Cobb brought back 52 yards to the house. The Bengals got a big 14-10 win.

Cincinnati went south to face a bad opponent in the Atlanta Falcons. The Bengals spotted their hosts a 7-0 lead, and then started forcing turnovers. The Bengals collected seven in all, including two interceptions by Jackson and a Pick-6 from Riley. Anderson found Joiner on a 30-yard touchdown pass. Cincinnati didn’t play their sharpest game, but they won 21-14.

With the win, the Bengals were riding high at 6-0 as October came to close. The Reds had just closed out a historic World Series win a few days earlier. All was good in the sports world of Cincinnati. Now it was time for the Bengals to face their stiffest test—with the defending Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers.

The test didn’t go well. The Bengals were pounded in the line of scrimmage, outrushed 239-69, and they trailed 23-3 after three quarters. To their credit, they didn’t quit, and Anderson kept coming after the great Steel Curtain defense. He went 19/42 for 331 yards and Cincy closed to within 30-24. But that’s where it ended.

Having taken their first loss, Cincinnati licked their wounds and went on the road to play mediocre Denver. They won the rush battle 163-92. It was a tough fight, but a Clark touchdown in the third quarter gave the Bengals a 17-13 lead, and they hung on for a 17-16 win.

That set up a big Monday Night home game with the Buffalo Bills. Led by a star running back named O.J. Simpson, the Bills had made the postseason a year ago and were in contention to return.

It’s worth pointing out that there was just one wild-card per conference in this era. If Cincinnati couldn’t beat Pittsburgh in the old AFC Central (the division also included the Browns and Oilers), then the Bengals needed to survive the runners-up in an AFC East where Buffalo joined the Baltimore Colts and Miami Dolphins as contenders.

All of which is the long way of saying this was a big game. The Juice ran wild, gaining 197 yards against the Bengal rush defense. But Anderson was up to the challenge. The Cincinnati quarterback put on a show, going 30/46 for 447 yards and no mistakes. Curtis caught seven balls for 139 yards, and Myers added seven more receptions for 108 yards. The Bengals got a 33-24 win that significantly advanced their wild-card prospects.

But why think wild-card when you’re still tied for first with the Steelers on the Sunday prior to Thanksgiving? That made what took place in Brown’s old Cleveland stomping grounds more painful. Cincinnati led 23-12 in the third quarter, but Anderson suffered a back injury. Backup John Reaves struggled, and the Bengals couldn’t run the ball. They fell behind 29-23. Trying to launch a final drive, Reaves threw an interception that came back 56 yards the other way. Cincinnati suffered a painful 35-23 loss.

At 8-2, the Bengals were now a game back of the Steelers. Even if Cincinnati won the rematch coming up in mid-December, the tiebreakers were going against them. The good news is that they led division rival Houston by a game in the wild-card race, had the tiebreaker edge there, and were up a game on both the Colts and Bills.

That just made the ensuing home game with Houston even bigger. Anderson was still not ready to play, so it was in Reaves’ hands. He was up to the challenge, playing efficient football and going 13/23 for 162 yards with no mistakes. Reaves also made some big plays, hitting Myers on touchdown passes of 34 and 18 yards. Cincinnati got an enormous 23-19 win that gave them a two-game lead in the wild-card race with just three to go. And the AFC Central wasn’t out of play yet.

The Bengals went on the road to lowly Philadelphia and dominated. Even though Cincy lost four fumbles, they ran for 258 yards as a team. That, and a terrific defensive effort was more than enough to compensate for Anderson being a little rusty on his return. Cincinnati cruised to a 31-0 win.

It was time to take another shot at the champ. Pittsburgh was coming to town for an early Saturday afternoon game. If the Bengals won, they were tied for first. While they would not have the tiebreaker, the Steelers had a very tough road game against the contending Los Angeles Rams in the season finale. Conversely, if Cincinnati lost, the division race was over, and the wild-card race might remain unsettled.

The Bengals, unfortunately, had one big thing in common with the rest of the league—they just weren’t in Pittsburgh’s class. They fell behind 14-0 quickly, including allowing a defensive touchdown. Anderson again hung tough, going 19/32 for 236 yards. But it was nowhere near enough. The Steelers coasted to a 35-14 win.

Cincinnati, sitting on a 10-3 record, now had to see what happened with the Miami-Baltimore game the following day. The Dolphins were 9-3 and the Colts were 8-4. A Miami win would end that division race and sent Cincinnati to the playoffs. But if Baltimore won, they moved into first place, and the Bengals did not have the tiebreakers on the Dolphins.

Miami lost in overtime. Cincinnati’s playoff fate would go to the final week. The good news is that they were playing one of the league’s worst teams, the San Diego Chargers, at home.

It almost didn’t matter—the Dolphins had to rally from behind to beat the Broncos on Saturday. But the Bengals were ready to go in any case.

Anderson ran for an early score. Then he flipped a six-yard touchdown pass to Fitts. Fitts added a touchdown run. Anderson went over the top, 52 yards to Curtis for a touchdown. And this all happened in the first quarter. Cincinnati was up 27-0 in a hurry and the day could be one long party. Anderson finished 18/23 for 260 yards and no mistakes. Fritts ran for 82 yards. The final was 47-17.

PLAYOFF HEARTBREAKER

Cincinnati was paired up with another 11-3 team in the Divisional Round of the playoffs. They were going to Oakland for a late Sunday afternoon kickoff.

The Bengal offensive line struggled. They couldn’t run the ball, and they didn’t protect Anderson. Trailing 31-14 in the fourth quarter, they looked dead. But this team never quit. Anderson, on his way to a 17/27 for 201 yards afternoon, launched a furious rally. Cincinnati scored two touchdowns. Down 31-28, they recovered a fumble at the Oakland 37-yard line. There was still 4:19 to play.

On the cusp of one of the great playoff comebacks, the pass protection couldn’t give Anderson time. He was sacked on first down, that blew up the series and the Raiders were able to run out the clock.

AN UNFORTUNATE AFTERMATH

Four days later, Brown announced he was stepping down. The coaching reins were handed to line coach Bill Johnson. It’s hard to criticize the move too much. Even though Johnson didn’t make the playoffs, he did go 18-10 over the next two seasons. But things fell apart by 1977.

More important, having been passed over for the head job, Walsh moved on to greener pastures and ultimately revolutionized the sport with his short passing game that Anderson executed so well. 1975 was an excellent year for the Cincinnati Bengals and a fitting end to Paul Brown’s extraordinary career. But its aftermath was unfortunate for the franchise.