Launched in 2000, Bengals.com is set to cover its 400th regular-season game Sunday when the Bengals travel to Tennessee to play the Titans.
For the occasion, we put together our ten favorite regular-season games, stretching from the 2000 opener against the Browns to last Monday night's win in Dallas.
**10.Dec. 18, 2022: Bengals 34, Buccaneers 23 at Tampa Bay**
First meeting of NFL past (Tom Brady) and NFL present (Joe Burrow) … Bengals winners of five straight and closing in on second straight division title … Brady jumps up 17-0 … Burrow rips off next 34 as Bucs make five straight turnovers in second half … Old friend Giovani Bernard, of all people, starts it with fumbled punt snap … Then Brady, who comes in 7-1 against the Bengals, has no more karma left against the stripes … He loses two fumbles and gets picked twice … Burrow outduels Brady, 104.6 to 92.2 in passer rating … Caps it off with 12-yard touchdown pass to undrafted tight end Mitchell Wilcox scoring his first NFL touchdown in his hometown …
**9.DEC. 18, 2005: Bengals 41, Lions 17 at Detroit**
Bengals clinch first division title in 15 years …Home-like game at Ford Field … Fans gather behind Bengals bench in last two minutes alternately chanting, "Who-Dey," and "Marvin, Marvin," for head coach Marvin Lewis … Defensive captain Brian Simmons, waiting eight years for playoffs, has baby boy back home who didn't want to miss it … Baby didn't follow plan to be induced next day … The Dean, Willie Anderson, gets play-off bid in his 156th game and fans outside locker room serenade him with, "This one's for you, Willie." … Dan Wilkinson, Bengals overall No. 1 pick in 1994 now playing for Lions, watches Carson Palmer break Ken Anderson's Bengals season record for touchdown passes and Deltha O'Neil break Ken Riley's season record for interceptions …
**8.OCT. 11, 2009: Bengals 17, Ravens 14 at Baltimore**
Still numbing … Three days before, Vikki Zimmer, wife of Bengals defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer, dies suddenly at age 50 … Devastated, he chooses to coach in an emotional display of grace and grit … Bengals shut down AFC's best offense with two picks of Joe Flacco for upset … In final drive, Ravens middle linebacker Ray Lewis called for unnecessary roughness … Knocks off wide receiver Chad Johnson's helmet over middle … Palmer drills 20-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Andre Caldwell down seam with 22 seconds left … Bengals become first team ever to beat three straight division foes in final 22 seconds or fewer … Zimmer fights through tears holding game ball as team surrounds him … "My wife loves all of you. Win or lose, she's proud of you. And I just appreciate all of your effort." …
**7.SEPT. 11, 2011: Bengals 27, Browns 17 at Cleveland**
Dan Hoard's first game in Bengals radio booth … It's also first game for rookie wide receiver A.J. Green and rookie quarterback Andy Dalton in Future is Now opener … Left tackle Andrew Whitworth, future pundit, comes into game steaming about pundits picking Bengals to win two or three games … Dalton hurts hand and relieved in second half by Bruce Gradkowski … Green has just one catch … But it's 41-yard moonball from Gradkowski for go-ahead touchdown with 4:28 left … After game Whitworth still steaming … "They said we'd go 0-16." … They go 9-7 and Dalton is first rookie quarterback to throw 20 touchdown passes and make playoffs …
**6.DEC. 5, 2004: Bengals 27, Ravens 26 at Baltimore**
Burrow has calling-card game in same building 17 years later … This is Carson Palmer's … In first season, he has some spectacular moments, but they're 5-6 and 0-3 against teams ahead of them in division, Pittsburgh and Baltimore … Down 24-3 against Ravens' No. 6 defense, Palmer throws three fourth-quarter touchdowns … One catches Hall-of-Fame safety Ed Reed like he's taking a third strike on his seed to wide receiver Chad Johnson … Down 26-24 with 1:37 left, he gets sacked on first play of series … Drills passes of 32 yards to T.J. Houshmandzadeh and 22 to Johnson for Shayne Graham's walk-off field goal … Palmer throws for 382 yards, 171 to Houshmandzadeh, 161 to Johnson … Center Rich Braham turns to shake hands with Ravens, but says they're all gone …
**5.NOV. 16, 2003: Bengals 24, Chiefs 19 at Paycor Stadium**
In first season as head coach, Marvin Lewis has changed Bengals culture in sweeping fashion … "In Marvin We Trust," signs blanket city … At 4-5, all he needs is signature win … He gets it in front of roaring sell-out against 9-0 Chiefs … Wide receiver Chad Johnson goes full Joe Willie early in week guaranteeing win … In fourth quarter, it turns out to be wide receiver Peter Warrick who tells T.J. Houshmandzadeh he'll seal it with a kiss … He returns punt 68 yards for touchdown … For good measure, Warrick catches 77-yard touchdown from Jon Kitna a few minutes later … When Baltimore's loss in Miami is announced, crowd salutes Bengals' latest trip to first place in 13 years … While Johnson apologizes to Chiefs head coach Dick Vermeil, right tackle and captain Willie Anderson brandishes shovel he keeps at his locker to emphasize Lewis' Keep on Shoveling mantra … Tearful Lewis gives game ball to Bengals president Mike Brown …
4.**DEC. 26, 2021: Bengals 41, Ravens 21 at Paycor Stadium**
Festive holiday crowd watches Burrow put Bengals on doorstep of division title with one of greatest passing days in NFL history … His 525 yards are fourth best all-time … Bengals keep putting foot on gas to put away Baltimore in breakneck fourth quarter as Burrow completes 37 of 46 attempts and passes Boomer Esiason twice … First, he clips Esiason's club-record 490, then the 522 he had as a Cardinal … Wide receiver Tee Higgins grabs career-high 194 … Ja'Marr Chase adds 125 as Bengals decisively break tie atop division with 8-7 Ravens with two games left … They also apparently hurt some Ravens' feelings when Burrow goes deep to running back Joe Mixon for 52 yards to go over 500 yards with less than two minutes left … "This is the NFL," Burrow tells Pro Football Talk. "This isn't peewee, this isn't high school where you go out and run up the score. You play until the final whistle. I don't care what the score is. We've been in spots where teams go out and do that to us. They did it to us last year. No sympathy from me." … The sense is a new year is coming …
**3.DEC. 23, 2012: Bengals 13, Steelers 10 at Pittsburgh**
Bengals win, they're in the playoffs, Steelers out … Steelers win, they're in, Bengals out … Pits Steelers' No. 1 defense vs. Bengals' No. 6 defense and that's exactly what you get … Cornerback Leon Hall scores Cincy's only touchdown on pick-six … Second-year defensive tackle Geno Atkins caps his break-out year and first of eight Pro Bowls with monstrous two-sack game … Also has forced fumble … Ten years before Burrow-to-Chase in AFC Divisional win in Tennessee, Bengals safety Reggie Nelson picks Ben Roethlisberger at the Steelers 46 with 14 seconds left … Andy Dalton clotheslines 21-yard pass to A.J. Green going out-of-bounds to give Green 116 yards … Josh Brown, kicking for injured Mike Nugent in his third Bengals game, nails 43-yard field goal … Bengals radio analyst Dave Lapham singsongs through his postgame locker room report, "Geno Atkins is a man." …
**2.JAN. 2, 2022: Bengals 34, Chiefs 31 at Paycor Stadium**
Arrival of new year and first AFC North title of Burrow Era … Courtesy of main man Ja'Marr Chase's Bengals-record and NFL rookie-record 266 yards … They stare down three different 14-point deficits to two-time AFC champ Chiefs as Burrow out-Mahomes Mahomes with 446-yard day a week after his 525 … No check-downs in 31-31 game on the Chiefs 41 with 3:19 left… On third-and-27, Burrow flings it 30 yards to Chase … Head coach Zac Taylor eschews field goal twice on fourth-and-goal from the 1 with Mahomes leering in shadows across field … The Chiefs get holding calls on both snaps to drain clock … Evan McPherson kicks 20-yarder at gun … "To take this division. It's not just kick a field goal, and let Patrick Mahomes do something," Taylor says. "The things worth having, you've got to go get them, and not wait for someone to give them to you, and I thought that's what our guys did today." …
**1.OCT.22, 2000: Bengals 31, Broncos 21 at Paycor Stadium**
This is why they play the games. This is why you have to go to the yard every day. This is Bengals running back Corey Dillon breaking Walter Payton's revered 24-year-old NFL rushing record … Bengals don't have a win, Denver has four … Bengals have scored 37 points all year, Denver has NFL's second-best run defense … Dillon's sheer will and power behind an offensive line that smells blood turns convention on its head …Still racks up record even though they have just two completions all day … None in last three quarters … Only 22 carries, but that's all he needs with last run a 41-yard touchdown giving him record by three … Think you'll ever see a game like this again? … With 407 rushing yards, Bengals have best running day in NFL in 50 years … "The biggest thing people will overlook is who actually has this record. Walter Payton, someone as immortal as that falls," says right tackle Willie Anderson, who led the charge. "What Corey did was un-human. He's a freak that runs with the pigskin." … "I don't know who in this league would have caught him today. Today was his day no matter what else goes around the NFL this week, today, or wherever." …