1989 Cincinnati Bengals season
General managerPaul Brown
Head coachSam Wyche
Home fieldRiverfront Stadium
Results
Record8–8
Division place4th AFC Central
Playoff finishDid not qualify
Pro Bowlers
6

The 1989 Cincinnati Bengals season was their 20th in the National Football League (NFL) and 22nd overall. The Bengals' 404 points scored were the fourth-most in the NFL in 1989. Four of their eight losses on the season were by a touchdown or less.

The 1989 Bengals are the most recent NFL team to score 55 points or more twice in a single season:[1] Week 8 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (56) and Week 15 against the arch-rival Houston Oilers (61), both at home. Despite this, the Bengals finished the season 4th in their division and failed to earn a playoff berth, making them the only team in the AFC Central to do so.

Offseason

NFL Draft

Main article: 1989 NFL Draft
1989 Cincinnati Bengals draft
Round Pick Player Position College Notes
2 35 Eric Ball  Running back UCLA
2 55 Freddie Childress  Offensive tackle Arkansas
3 83 Erik Wilhelm  Quarterback Oregon State
4 89 Kerry Owens  Linebacker Arkansas
4 111 Rob Woods  Offensive tackle Arizona
5 138 Natu Tuatagaloa  Defensive end California
6 166 Craig Taylor  Running back West Virginia
7 194 Kendal Smith  Wide receiver Utah State
8 222 Chris Chenault  Linebacker Kentucky
9 250 Richard Stephens  Guard Tulsa
10 256 Cornell Holloway  Defensive back Pittsburgh
10 278 Bob Jean  Quarterback New Hampshire
11 306 Dana Wells  Defensive tackle Arizona
12 334 Scott Jones  Offensive tackle Washington
      Made roster  

[2]

Personnel

Staff

1989 Cincinnati Bengals staff

Front office

  • President – John Sawyer
  • General Manager – Paul Brown
  • Assistant General Manager – Mike Brown
  • Director of Player Personnel – Pete Brown

Head coaches

Offensive coaches

Defensive coaches

Special teams coaches

Strength and conditioning

  • Strength – Kim Wood

Roster

1989 Cincinnati Bengals roster
Quarterbacks

Running backs

Wide receivers

Tight ends

Offensive linemen

Defensive linemen

Linebackers

Defensive backs

Special teams

Reserve lists


Practice squad

47 active, 6 inactive, 2 practice squad


Rookies in italics

Regular season

Schedule

Week Date Opponent Result Record Venue Recap
1 September 10 at Chicago Bears L 14–17 0–1 Soldier Field Recap
2 September 17 Pittsburgh Steelers W 41–10 1–1 Riverfront Stadium Recap
3 September 25 Cleveland Browns W 21–14 2–1 Riverfront Stadium Recap
4 October 1 at Kansas City Chiefs W 21–17 3–1 Arrowhead Stadium Recap
5 October 8 at Pittsburgh Steelers W 26–16 4–1 Three Rivers Stadium Recap
6 October 15 Miami Dolphins L 13–20 4–2 Riverfront Stadium Recap
7 October 22 Indianapolis Colts L 12–23 4–3 Riverfront Stadium Recap
8 October 29 Tampa Bay Buccaneers W 56–23 5–3 Riverfront Stadium Recap
9 November 5 at Los Angeles Raiders L 7–28 5-4 Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Recap
10 November 13 at Houston Oilers L 24–26 5–5 Astrodome Recap
11 November 19 Detroit Lions W 42–7 6–5 Riverfront Stadium Recap
12 November 26 at Buffalo Bills L 7–24 6–6 Rich Stadium Recap
13 December 3 at Cleveland Browns W 21–0 7–6 Cleveland Stadium Recap
14 December 10 Seattle Seahawks L 17–24 7–7 Riverfront Stadium Recap
15 December 17 Houston Oilers W 61–7 8–7 Riverfront Stadium Recap
16 December 25 at Minnesota Vikings L 21–29 8–8 Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome Recap

Season summary

Week 1 at Bears

Week One: Cincinnati Bengals (0–0) at Chicago Bears (0–0)
Period 1 2 34Total
Bengals 7 0 7014
Bears 0 7 3717

at Soldier Field, Chicago, Illinois

Game information

Week 2 vs Steelers

This section is empty. You can help by adding to it. (September 2023)

Week 3 vs Browns

Week Three: Cleveland Browns (2–0) at Cincinnati Bengals (1–1)
Period 1 2 34Total
Browns 0 14 0014
Bengals 0 14 7021

at Riverfront Stadium, Cincinnati, Ohio

  • Date: September 25
  • Game time: 9:00 p.m. EDT
  • Game weather: 53 °F (12 °C)
  • TV: ABC
  • Box Score

Week 14 vs. Seahawks

See also: 1989 Seattle Seahawks season
Week Fourteen: Seattle Seahawks at Cincinnati Bengals – Game summary
Period 1 2 34Total
Seahawks 0 7 10724
Bengals 7 3 0717

at Riverfront Stadium • Cincinnati, Ohio

  • Date: December 10
  • Game time: 1:00pm local
  • Game weather: Cloudy • 30 °F (−1 °C) • Wind 12 miles per hour (19 km/h) SW
  • Game attendance: 54,744
  • Referee: Bob McElwee
  • TV: NBC
  • Play-by-Play
Game information

You don't live in Cleveland, you live in Cincinnati.

Sam Wyche, Bengals head coach

Standings

AFC Central
W L T PCT DIV CONF PF PA STK
Cleveland Browns(2) 9 6 1 .594 3–3 6–5–1 334 254 W2
Houston Oilers(4) 9 7 0 .563 3–3 6–6 365 412 L2
Pittsburgh Steelers(5) 9 7 0 .563 1–5 6–6 265 326 W3
Cincinnati Bengals 8 8 0 .500 5–1 6–6 404 285 L1

Team leaders

Passing

Player Att Comp Yds TD INT Rating
Boomer Esiason 455 258 3525 28 11 92.1

Rushing

Player Att Yds YPC Long TD
James Brooks 221 1239 5.6 65 7

Receiving

Player Rec Yds Avg Long TD
Tim McGee 65 1211 18.6 74 8
Rodney Holman 50 736 14.7 73 9

Defensive

Player Tackles Sacks INTs FF FR
David Fulcher 107 0 8 1 4
Jason Buck 63 6 0 1 1

Kicking and punting

Player FGA FGM FG% XPA XPM XP% Points
Jim Breech 14 12 85.7% 38 37 97.4% 73
Player Punts Yards Long Blkd Avg.
Lee Johnson 61 2446 62 2 40.1

Special teams

Player KR KRYards KRAvg KRLong KRTD PR PRYards PRAvg PRLong PRTD
Stanford Jennings 26 525 20.2 33 0 0 0 0.0 0 0
Mike Martin 0 0 0.0 0 0 15 107 7.1 17 0

Awards and records

Pro Bowl selections

Milestones

References

  1. ^ "Team Game Finder Query Results - Pro-Football-Reference.com". Pro-Football-Reference.com.
  2. ^ "1989 Cincinnati Bengals draftees". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved October 6, 2014.
  3. ^ "Boomer Esiason". NFL.com.
  4. ^ "James Brooks". NFL.com.
  5. ^ "Tim McGee". NFL.com.

External links

Cincinnati Bengals
Cincinnati Bengals seasons
1989 NFL season
Categories