NFL Old School Game of the Week: Bengals Overcome 21-Point Halftime Deficit to Beat Vikings

 

Bengals kicker Doug Pelfrey is hoisted up by his teammates after his game-winning field goal in Cincinnati's win over the Minnesota Vikings.

Christmas is supposed to be the time of the miracles and the Cincinnati Bengals would get one when they hosted the Minnesota Vikings on Christmas Eve during the final week of the 1995 NFL regular season.

The Bengals came into the game with a 6-9 record having secured their fifth consecutive losing season since the team's last appearance in the postseason in 1990 when they fell to the Los Angeles Raiders 20-10 in the AFC Divisional Playoffs.

Following a 3-13 season in 1991, head coach Sam Wyche was fired and replaced by his wide receivers coach, Dave Shula, son of legendary Miami Dolphins head coach Don Shula.

Unlike his father who only had two losing seasons, Dave's run in Cincinnati was not going well as the team lost more than 10 games in each of his first three seasons.

 A loss to the Vikings would secure a fifth straight season of at least 10 losses for the Bengals and possibly Shula his job as his fate was uncertain as the team prepared to wrap up the 1995 season hosting the Vikings.

The Vikings came into the game with a 8-7 record, still alive for a playoff spot as Minnesota needed to defeat Cincinnati, then have the Chicago Bears and Atlanta Falcons lose their games in Week 17 which would allow the Vikings to clinch the final spot in the NFC playoffs.

The Vikings were led by head coach Dennis Green, who had not missed the playoffs since his arrival in Minnesota in 1992, as he and his team were hoping for a Christmas miracle to participate in the NFL postseason for 1995.

The Vikings got the ball to start the game as they would drive 58 yards in nine plays as a 19-yard pass from quarterback Warren Moon to Jake Reed and a 15-yard run by running back Amp Lee would set up a 20-yard field goal by Fuad Reveiz to give Minnesota a 3-0 lead.

After a 32-yard return by David Dunn on the ensuing kickoff, the Bengals would begin their first possession of the game at the 50-yard-line as quarterback Jeff Blake hit passes of 12 yards to Carl Pickens and nine yards to Darnay Scott to set up  Doug Pelfrey's 44-yard field goal which tied the game at 3 with 6:16 left in the first quarter.

The Vikings would get the ball back at their 28-yard-line as it took them three plays to drive into Bengals territory until  Lee fumbled the football after he was hit by Cincinnati defensive end Artie Smith, leading to a recovery by cornerback Rod Jones to give the Bengals the ball at their 38-yard-line.

The two teams would exchange punts as the game moved into the second quarter when the Vikings began a drive from their 24-yard-line as they slowly drove to midfield when they faced a 3rd & 11 at their 49-yard-line.

That is when Moon went deep and connected with Reed for a 51-yard touchdown to give Minnesota a 10-3 lead with 8:08 remaining in the second quarter.

It would only take the Vikings 27 seconds to get back into the end zone as defensive back Alfred Jackson intercepted a Blake pass intended for Pickens and ran it back 37 yards for a touchdown to increase Minnesota's lead to 17-3.

Following a three-and-out by the Bengals on their next possession, the Vikings would get the ball at their 14-yard-line as Minnesota would drive to the Cincinnati 34-yard-line until three straight incomplete passes led to a punt back to the Bengals who would begin their next drive at their 20-yard-line.

The Vikings' defense would force another three-and-out to give their offense the ball at their 43-yard-line and a chance to pick up some points before the end of the first half as just 24 seconds remained before halftime.

The drive began with Moon completing a 16-yard pass to wide receiver Cris Carter, followed by back-to-back completions to David Palmer which totaled 27 yards to put the Vikings at the Bengals' 14-yard-line when Moon found Carter in the end zone for the touchdown to increase the Minnesota lead to 24-3 with just two seconds left in the first half.

Vikings quarterback Warren Moon completed 26 of 43 passes for 294 yards and threw two touchdowns.

The Bengals would run out the clock to end the first half down three touchdowns after a first half in which Cincinnati was outgained 310-48 and accumulated only two 1st downs in the game's first 30 minutes.

The Bengals would get the ball to start the second half when Cincinnati turned to running back Eric Bieniemy to get their offense back on track as he would run for 13 yards on the first play of the drive then three plays later run for 20 yards that with a face mask penalty on Vikings free safety Orlando Thomas put the Bengals at the Minnesota 11-yard-line.

After Blake threw an incomplete pass on 1st down, then hit Dunn for six yards on 2nd down, Bieniemy got the ball again on 3rd & goal as he took up the gut for the five-yard touchdown to cap off the eight-play, 65-yard drive and cut the Bengals' deficit to 24-10 with 11:08 left in the third quarter.

Following a Minnesota punt, the Bengals would begin their next possession on their four-yard-line as Blake, who completed only four of 14 passes for 35 yards in the first half, was able to complete passes of seven yards to Scott and 16 yards to Tony McGee to give Cincinnati a fresh set of downs at its 27-yard-line.

After a four-yard run by Bieniemy, Blake found Pickens for 13 yards and another 1st down as Bieniemy would get the ball on the next two plays, running for 13 yards to give the Bengals a 1st down at the Minnesota 43-yard-line.

From there, the Bengals would rely on the right arm of Blake as he completed an eight-yard pass to James Joseph, then found Pickens for 11 yards, followed by a 13-yard completion to McGee, and then finally wrapping up the drive with a 11-yard touchdown pass to Pickens.

In all, Blake completed all seven of his passes for 79 yards on the 10-play, 96-yard touchdown drive which cut the Vikings' lead to 24-17 with 3:20 remaining in the third quarter.

The Vikings would hold the ball for the rest of the third quarter until they were forced to punt on the first play of the fourth quarter as the Bengals would get the ball back at their 27-yard-line when disaster struck on 2nd & 7 when Blake was intercepted by Minnesota linebacker Jeff Brady to give the Vikings the ball at the Cincinnati 33-yard-line.

The Vikings would run six plays for a total of 13 yards before bringing on Reveiz to attempt a 38-yard field goal which would push the Minnesota lead back to double digits.

However, Reveiz would slip as he came to kick the football, which sailed wide right and no good to keep the score at 24-17 as the Bengals would take over at their 28-yard-line.

Minnesota's defense would force a three-and-out to give their offense the ball back at their 24-yard-line, only for them to go three-and-out and punt the ball back to the Bengals punter Mike Saxon would shank the punt as it went only 15 yards to allow Cincinnati to begin its next possession at the Vikings' 40-yard-line.

That is when Blake completed a 35-yard pass to Scott to give Cincinnati a 1st & goal at the Minnesota five-yard-line as after two incomplete passes, Blake would find McGee in the end zone for the five-yard touchdown that with the extra point by Pelfrey tied the game at 24 with 9:01 left in regulation.

With their three-touchdown lead disappeared, The Vikings would methodically drive down the field as Moon completed four passes for 42 yards while Graham would run for 26 yards on five carries to lead Minnesota move from their 20-yard-line to the Bengals' seven-yard-line where the drive would stall.

Reveiz would be given a chance to redeem himself for his earlier miss as he attempted a chip-shot 25-yard field goal, only for it to sail wide left and no good, to keep the game tied as the Bengals would get the ball back at their 20-yard-line with 2:06 left in regulation and a chance to drive for the game-winning score.

The drive got off to an auspicious start as Bieniemy ran for one yard on 1st down which was followed by an incomplete pass on 2nd down to bring up 3rd & 9 when Blake found Dunn for nine yards to give the Bengals a 1st down at their 30-yard-line.

The third down conversion would kickstart the Bengals' drive as Blake hit Pickens for 18 yards on the next play, then completed two straight passes to Bieniemy for a total of 16 yards to put Cincinnati at the Minnesota 36-yard-line.

However, a false start penalty would push the Bengals back five yards as Blake would then an incomplete pass on 1st down, then complete a five-yard pass to Bieniemy on 2nd down, followed by a two-yards pass to Joseph on 3rd down to bring up 4th & 8 with just a few seconds left.

That is when Shula sent in the field goal unit as Pelfrey would come to attempt a 51-yard field goal that would give the Bengals the win or send the game into overtime with a miss.

Pelfrey's kick was barely cross over the crossbar as time expired as his 51-yard field goal gave the Bengals a 27-24 victory as Cincinnati for the second time in team history overcame a three-touchdown deficit to win a game(To read about the previous occasion, click on the link highlighted here: https://oldschoolsportsblog.blogspot.com/2017/09/nfl-old-school-game-of-week-third.html).

Bengals quarterback Jeff Blake completed 19 of 26 passes for 193 yards and threw two touchdowns in the second half of Cincinnati's comeback win.

While the collapse against the Bengals officially eliminated the Vikings from playoff contention, they would not have gotten in anyway as the Falcons and Bears both won their games to finish tied for the last playoff spot which went to Atlanta while Minnesota finished the season with a 8-8 record.

As for the Bengals, their win over the Vikings allowed them to finish with a 7-9 record, the team's best record since 1990 which paved the way for Shula to return to coach the team for the 1996 season.

However, the Bengals would get off to a 1-6 start the following season which led to Shula being fired midway through the season(If you want to read about his final game as coach, click on the link highlighted here: https://oldschoolsportsblog.blogspot.com/2021/12/nfl-old-school-game-of-week-young-plays.html)to finish a four-and-half year tenure where Cincinnati won only 19 games.