Football enthusiasts are sure well-informed about North Carolina Panthers- from their origin, games, schedule, latest wins and more. Carolina Panthers have successfully left a mark in the history and constantly creating more. For those who are a bit curious about their start and how they are able to make history, just read further.

History

The history of Carolina Panthers started in late 1980s right after when the expansion team of professional NBA has been approved. Everything began when Richardson met with a group of fascinated parties in Charlotte. The meeting agenda is to discuss the viability of entering the NFL expansion franchise to the multi-city competition. Afterwards, Richardson formally announced that Carolina will be the town to put the NFL franchise.

The first business order was to select a stadium site. South and North Carolina were among the option. Subsequently, Richardson Sports opt the site in the uptown Charlotte to become the future home of NFL privately financed Stadium that would accommodate over 70,000 fans.

The support for the expansion team immediately poured and reached an unprecedented rate. Ernest Holding from South Carolina and Jesse Helms from North Carolina lobbied the NFL owners on the behalf of Carolinas. Fans showed their enthusiasm through selling preseason games. Governor Carroll Campbell and Jim Martin formed blue-ribbon committee. Everyone has shown their enthusiasm.

The expansion undergoes multiple voting until on 1993, NFL owners officially announced that Carolina will be the home for the twenty-ninth NFL franchise.

The Lucky Start

Panthers start playing as the NFL 1995 expansion teams. Their uniform color is a combination of blue, black and silver. Just within two years of the team’s existence, they have successfully won in the division and become qualified to the 1996 season’s playoffs. They are the only NFL team that time that immediately gain such success. They were also able to successfully win in the seven games prior to that year.

Panther’s worst season

Carolina Panthers were doomed to failure in the 2001 season of NFL. In general, 2001 has been the team’s worst year. They would have probably go down in the history for being the team with largest number of successive losses in the NFL record. They lose fifteen straight games and finished with 1-15 record.

But they successfully regain their status after two seasons, under John Fox, the head coach who successfully turn the odds into their favor. Panthers are able to finish the regular season with 11-5 record. After winning in the National Football Conference, the team continued to the playoffs. Afterwards they went on to participate in the Super Bowl and compete against New England Patriots, wherein they could have possible won.

Team records

Since Panthers began playing football, they have been into 3 Championship games of NFC. They won in 2003 season and lost in 2003 and 1996 season. Overall, they have won 6 division championships in 2015, 2014, 2013, 2008, 2003 and 1996. They are also the only team who successfully gain a back-to-back win in the NFC South, not to mention their total wins. They also successfully finished other games as runner-ups including in the NFC West.

The Official National Football League 1993 Record and Fact Book acknowledges Mark Gastineau and Lawrence Taylor as all-time sack leaders. Gastineau holds the single season record at 22, while Taylor has the career mark at 126.

But former Los Angeles Rams standout Deacon Jones claims he’s the sack leader in both categories. According to  records kept by the late George Allen, his couch with the Rams, Jones tackled opposing quarterbacks in the backfield 26 times in 1967 and amassed 180.5 sacks by the time he retired, in 1974.

“The record is very important be without it, it seems that I wasn’t even in the game,” says Jones. He’s get an augment from the Pro Football Hall of Fame, which inducted him in 1980. “I’m the most devastating pass rusher that ever played the stickin’ game.”

But the league didn’t start keeping sack records until the 1982 season, and that’s just part of the problem.

“The league is 74 years old – There’s no game film for a lot of those years,” says NFL spokesman Greg Aiello. “There are very sketchy statistics. There may be a guy who played in the 20s who had more sacks than Deason Jones.”

Jones says he’ll crusade to have the record books rewritten until the day he dies. “I took the game to another level and I want the recorded. I’m proud of the legacy I left behind. The Hall of Fame is not enough.”

The Victor Awards

It’s the original trophy for success in all types of sports, and for the 27th consecutive year, the Victor Awards was dispensed to athletes who defined the meaning of excellence.

Sport Magazine is the nominating body that complies the list of candidates, and sportswriters and broadcasts around the country vote to determine who wins in this athletic equivalent of the Academy Awards.

The latest exercise in recognition took place on June 26 at the Las Vegas Hilton, site of the Victor Awards Ceremony for more than two decades.

You’ll have to wait until the television broadcast later this year to find out who won in a range of categories encompassing the best golfers, football players, basketball coaches, and a score of other classifications.

We can let you in on one secret. Peter Rose won the Hall of Fame Award. the only thing better would be induction into the real Hall in Copperstown.

Denver Broncos has long history as one of the best teams in the National Football League back then. This American football team which was based in Denver, Colorado has amazed the world of football arena when they played the ‘Super Bowl’ six times where they won two of the Super Bowls in 97-98 football seasons. This well-known football team is members of West division of the AFC (American Football Conference) in National Football League. Denver Broncos come into the scene in 1960, wherein they played as the charter member of the AFL (American Football League) and were not very successful in the first decade of their professional football career. However, like most teams in the professional football, the team’s success is yet to be seen.

The team won the Boston Patriots 13-14 back in September 9 1960, which is the very first AFL game. Denver Broncos was the very first American Football League team to defeat a National Football League team on August 5, 1976 right after defeating the ‘Detroit’s Lion’ with a score of 13-7 in the pre-season football game. With amazing records of half a dozen AFC championships in 1977 to 1998, it is just imperative to say why many enthusiastic football fans eagerly snap Denver Broncos ticket whenever they have a game.

History and Highlights of Denver Bronco Franchise

Denver Bronco AFL (American Football League) chapter was awarded to Bob Howsam (1959) who owns a minor baseball team and has built the 1940’s stadium for the Chicago Bears. And with limited funds, the first team took the field wearing old used uniforms and socks with vertical stripes. After two years, Jack Faulkner was brought in the scene to take the role as the head coach and the general manager at the same time. Under his supervision, he began the work of lifting the team out from laughing stock and brought it to a respected sports entity. He gave their much-ridiculed socks in the boot in public ceremony which in return gave their fans the opportunity to see them went up in flames. Though there’s no fortune coming to their way during the first decade of Denver Bronco’s franchise, they had reached the top of their success when they won the very first AFL game in August 1960 against Boston Patriots.

It was back in 1965 that the team’s fortune took a turn for better when the decision of Atlanta to buy Broncos was stymied. In just a jiffy, it was Allan and Gerald Phipps who invested millions to purchase the stadium and the team. With this news, the excitement of fans was unprecedented, and they showed up their thanks by purchasing over 22,000 seasons ‘Denver Broncos’ tickets. In 1964, the not even 800 of the tickets has been purchased, which made the event even more staggering. The city of Denver took the ownership of the old ‘Bears’ stadium in 1968 and gave it a new name and changed it into Mile High.

The Denver Broncos are one of the founding members of the American Football League that was formed in 1960 and are currently playing in the West Division of the American Football Conference in the NFL or National Football League. For the first 10 years of their existence they played in the American Football League until it merged with the NFL in 1970. Since then, the Broncos have become one of the more successful franchises winning two Super Bowls and seven AFC championships. Currently, they play their games in Denver, Colorado at Sports Authority Field at Mile High.

Although hardly competitive in the first 16years of their existence, since their first appearance Super Bowl XII in 1977, the Broncos have only had six losing season in that 35 year stretch. In addition to their success, the Broncos currently have four players in the NFL Hall of Fame, including Floyd Little, Gary Zimmerman, John Elway and Shannon Sharpe.

The History of the Denver Broncos

The teams was founded on August 14^th, 1959 when Bob Howsam, an owner of a minor league baseball team was awarded the franchise from the AFL. The following year on September 9^th, 1960 the Broncos won their very first game ever against the Boston Patriots 13 to 10. Another high point for the team occurred on August 5^th, 1967 when they became the first AFL team to defeat an NFL team, the Detroit Lions 13 to 7 in a pre-season game. However, the 1960s were not kind to the Denver Broncos as they compiled a losing record of 39-97-4 in their first 10 years of being in the league. In fact, they were the only AFL team to never play in their championship game during those years.

The merger with the NFL in 1970 improved the team considerably as they hired John Ralston as their coach. Ralston guided the team to its first winning season and managed during his six year tenure to acquire three winning seasons in total, but no playoff appearances. His resignation after the 1976 season led to defensive coordinator Red Miller to take over the team and in the following year lead them to their first Super Bowl appearance under the guidance of aging quarterback Craig Morton. Despite a stellar defense nicknamed “Orange Crush” after the popular Orange soda, the Broncos were manhandled by the Dallas Cowboys 27 – 10. The rest of the 1970s and early 1980s saw little in the way of success for the Broncos until 1981 when they hired a very young Dan Reeves to take over coaching the team.

The Era of John Elway

Reeves struggled his first two seasons until an unlikely series of events landed him Stanford quarterback John Elway. The combination of Elway’s performance, Reeve’s coaching and the stingy “Orange Crush” defense led to six playoff appearances which included three trips to the Super Bowl during a twelve-year period. Unfortunately, the Broncos were beaten in all three appearances by lopsided scores including a 55 to 10 shellacking by the San Francisco 49rs in Super Bowl XXIV which remains a record in point differential.

Internal struggles and a feud that developed between Reeves and Elway led to the coach leaving the team after the 1992 season and the installment of Wade Phillips who did little to right the ship in terms of the Broncos success and he was summarily dismissed two years later. By 1995, former offensive coordinator Mike Shannon had taken over the team and by 1996 he drafted running back Terrell Davis who proved to be a seminal acquisition for the team.

In 1996, the Broncos registered an impressive 13 – 3 record, but were upset by the Jacksonville Jaguars in the divisional playoffs. However, the following year both Davis and Elway led the Broncos all the way to the Super Bowl and faced the defending champion Green Bay Packers for Super Bowl XXXII as big underdogs. However, the rushing of Davis and heroics of Elway led the team to their first Super Bowl victory as they upset the Packers 34 – 19. Elway was named Super Bowl MVP and his “helicopter” spin when tackled for an important first down helped seal his legendary status in the NFL.

Elway played one more season where he led the Broncos to a relatively easy win over the Atlanta Falcons that were led by his former coach, Dan Reeves. Elway repeated as Super Bowl MVP and promptly retired as one of the greatest quarterbacks in NFL history.

The Post-Elway Years

After Elway’s departure, the Broncos managed to make the playoffs for a number of years, but incurred a lot of up and down seasons during the first decade of the 21^st century. The Broncos enjoyed their biggest success during the 2005 season where they went 13 – 3 and were defeated by the Pittsburg Steelers in the AFC Championship Game.

In 2009, Mike Shannon was let go from the team and Josh McDaniels was hired. His tumultuous tenure at Denver didn’t last two seasons as he was fired in December, 2010, only to have the team taken over by interim coach Eric Studesville. McDaniels biggest impact was the drafting of Florida quarterback Tim Tebow. Although unheralded, Tebow led Denver to six straight wins and a playoff victory in 2011 before losing to the Patriots in the following game.

The Payton Manning Era

Released by the Indianapolis Colts, Peyton Manning found his way to Denver for the 2012 season. The –previous addition of John Fox as head coach brought about immediate success after a shaky 2 – 3 start. The Broncos won 11 straight games and easily made the playoffs, but lost to eventual Super Bowl champs, the Baltimore Ravens in the divisional playoffs.

In the following season, the Broncos made it all the way to the Super Bowl after a sensational season, including Peyton Manning setting a new total passing yards record, but they were defeated rather handily by the Seattle Seahawks.

Overall, the Denver Broncos are considered one of the most successful teams in the past 35 years. From the stellar contributions of John Elway, the stingy “Orange Crush” defense and now the current success of Peyton Manning, the Broncos are considered a real force in the NFL.

The Denver Broncos are an expert American football group situated in Denver, Colorado. They are individuals from the Westdivision which comes under AFC -American Football Conference in the NFL- National Football League. The Broncos started play in 1960 as a sanction member from the American Football League (AFL) and joined the NFL as a segment of the merger in 1970. The Broncos are claimed by the Pat Bowlen trust.

The Broncos were scarcely aggressive in their 10-years history in the AFL and their initial seven years in the NFL. They didn’t have a triumphant season until 1973. After four years, in 1977, they made the playoffs for the first time in history and progressed to Super Bowl XII. Subsequent to 1975, the Broncos have gotten to be one of the NFL’s more effective squad, having endured just six losing records in 40 seasons. They have won seven American Football Conference Championships and as well as two Super Bowls. Apart from this they have four players in the Pro Football Hall of Fame named as Gary Zimmerman, John Elway, Shannon Sharpe and Floyd Little.

At the point when the Broncos appeared in 1960, their unique garbs drew as much consideration as their play on the field. They highlighted white and mustard yellow shirts, with differentiating cocoa helmets, brown color pants and vertically striped socks. Two years after the fact, the group disclosed another logo including a bucking horse, and changed their group color to orange, regal blue and white. The 1962 uniform, planned by Laura North-Allen, comprised of white jeans, orange caps, and either orange or white jerseys.

In 1994, out of appreciation for the 75th anniversary season of the NFL, the Broncos wore their 1965 return dress for two games — a Week 3 home play against the Raiders, and a road play at the Buffalo Bills the next week. The Broncos drastically changed their logo and dress in 1997, an outline that the squad keeps on utilizing right up ’til the present time. The new logos and outfits were announced publicly on February 4, 1997. Navy blue replaced regal blue on the squad’s shading plan. The present logo is a profile of a horse’s head, with an orange mane and naval force blue outlines. The naval force blue jersey and pants mix was recently utilized as a part of a December 13, 2015 game versus the Oakland Raiders.

For a large portion of their history, the Denver Broncos played in Mile High Stadium. The AFL Broncos played at the University of Denver’s Hilltop Stadium now and again, including the first-ever triumph of an AFL group over a NFL group. In 2001, the group moved into INVESCO Field at Mile High, constructed alongside the previous site of the since-destroyed Mile High Stadium. Sportswriter Woody Paige with a large portion of Denver’s fans always decline to call the new stadium by its full name, wanting to utilize “Mile High Stadium” in view of its storied history and nostalgic import. In their more than half-century of presence, the Broncos have never been closed out at home, a dash of more than 400 games as of the 2014 season.

The Broncos appear to consistently set up together noteworthy seasons and play in vital games. The group does its best to dependably collect great players and its fans are some of the best in the association. Undoubtedly Denver will keep on being one of the more popular and general better squads in the league for quite a long time to come.

Finishing with the best record in the NFL, the 15 – 1 Carolina Panthers skirted with history by nearly becoming the third NFL franchise to finish the regular season undefeated and untied. Led by their remarkable quarterback Cam Newton, the Panthers are the favorites in the NFC to reach the Super Bowl for the 2015 season.

Preseason

Expectations for the 2015 season were substantial, but arguably not nearly as high as the result since the Panthers went 7 – 8 – 1 in the 2014 season. However, under head coach Ron Rivera they did manage to win the NFC South and even beat the Cardinals in the first round of the playoffs before losing in the Divisional round. In addition, the Panthers did not have selections in the third, sixth, or seventh rounds of the NFL draft due to making trades. They did select Shaq Thompson, a linebacker from Washington as their first round selection.

The Panthers went 3 – 1 in the 2015 preseason with one point victories over the Buffalo Bills and Miami Dolphins before losing by one point to the New England Patriots. They finished the preseason by blowing out the Steelers, but few at the time could have predicted what would happen during the regular season.

Regular Season

The season began with an expected victory against the struggling Jacksonville Jaguars and the Panthers managed to win their next three games as well against the Houston Texans, New Orleans Saints, and Tampa Bay Buccaneers to go into the bye week at 4 – 0.

It was their first game out of the bye week that really began to grab the attention of the fans as they beat the two-time defending NFC Champions Seattle Seahawks at CenturyLink Field, arguably the toughest place for any NFL team to play. Over the next nine weeks, the Panthers managed to beat some impressive competition as they smacked the Philadelphia Eagles and then squeaked out an overtime victory against the Indianapolis Colt.

From there, the Panthers beat the Green Bay Packers, Tennessee Titans, Washington Redskins, and Dallas Cowboys before just getting past their arch rivals, the New Orleans Saints. From there, the Panthers smashed the Atlanta Falcons at home 38 – 0 and just beat out the New York Giants to go 14 – 0.

However, the dreams of an undefeated season came crashing down as they lost to the Falcons 20 – 13 despite having handily beat them two week previously. The Panthers finished out the season by smacking the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 38 – 10 and finishing with a remarkable 15 – 1 record.

Despite not having their feature running back DeAngelo Williams and losing their star receiver Kelvin Benjamin in the preseason, the Panthers managed to become only the seventh team in NFL history to win 15 games in the regular season. They managed to win their third NFC South title in a row. Plus, they set a new franchise record of winning 14 games in a row and set an NFC record with the most wins before their loss.

The Panthers are the number one seed in the playoffs which means that they will host the Divisional round and Championship round if they win.

With 6 Super Bowl trophies in the trophy case, Pittsburgh Steelers has taken a solid claim at being one of the best and most world-renowned professional football franchises ever. Pittsburgh Steelers is a professional American football team that is based from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Currently, the team belongs to the AFL’s North Division of AFC in the National Football League. Founded in 1933, Pittsburgh Steelers is considered as one of the oldest franchise in the AFC. Steelers have many championships that are under their belt with 6 league championships, six Super Bowl championships and 18 division championships. The team was originally named after the National League of Pittsburgh’s baseball team.

In 1938, Byron White (the star runner), who was nicknamed as Whizzer referring to his capability, was added to the team. But despite of this new addition, the team only managed to win 2 victories. Originally named as ‘Pirates’, the team was renamed owing to their losses back in 1940. They only managed 3 record wins during 1942 to 1949. In contrast with the Pittsburgh status as perennial that runs in the pre-merger of NFL (with the record of minimum wins), Steelers of the post-merger (modern era) are the one which brought success to the NFL franchise. Pittsburgh Steelers are the first American football team who holds the record for four consecutive victories in the super bowl in the 70s where Coach Chuck Noll headed the team. They also started to acquire several star players to empower their team.

Their defense was named as ‘Steel Curtain’, particularly owning to their great defense abilities. Some of the star players during that time include Jack Lambert, Jack Ham, Donnie Shell, Joe Greene, Mel Blount and White. They are the members of defense who are rated as the top for 3 straight seasons during 1974 to 1976. With their great members, Steelers has successfully won the 1974 and the 1975 seasons of payoffs, and also the following season of Super Bowl. After three years of electrifying match against their powerful rival ‘Cowboys’, Pittsburgh Steelers has successfully hit the victory with a score of 35-31 in the Super Bowl. Their victory was one of the most recognizable game in the football history for its strong lead after Bradshaw’s 4 touchdown passes in the match’s closing minutes.

The quarterback has made few touchdowns before the Pittsburgh recovered and marked victory. Their gain their 4th title again back in 1980 after they’ve defeated ‘Los Angeles Rams’, hitting the score of 31-19. It was under Noll’s coaching when the team took their last appearance in Super Bowl, who led Steelers into 2 more division titles in the 12th season that followed. Noll retired in 1991, yet gaining a career best of ‘209 victories’ which placed him in the 4th spot of NFL history. After the sad demise of Art Rooney (1988), who had owned the club for more than 50 years, his son Daniel Rooney took over the position of being the franchise president. And at that time, Bill Cowher who was a former linebacker of NFL was appointed to become the head coach of Pittsburgh Steelers in 1992.

Arizona Cardinals is founded in year 1898 as a charter member of NFL (National Football League) and is recognized as the oldest professional football team across the nation. The team is also called in varying names such as Chicago Cardinals, Louis Cardinals, Phoenix Cardinals, Racine Cardinals, and the Normal.

The team vaunts its colorful and interesting history. Everything started as a neighborhood group which assembled to play football in the South Side of Chicago. They started as Morgan Athletic Club and later on were called the Normals, after they were acquired by a decorating and painting contractor, Chris O’Brien.

The team acquired longstanding identification in 1901, when O’Brien purchased used faded maroon-colored jerseys from University of Chicago. But O’Brien declared the color as Cardinal Red and afterwards, their permanent nickname was born.

The jersey color and the field location have become the bases for the team new name- Racine Cardinals. But during that year, football competition in Chicago was exclusively for amateur. However, that opposition became gradually difficult to find. So in year 1906, the Racine Cardinals has been disbanded.

In 1913, the team was reorganized by O’Brien and in 1917 they were able to hire their own coach and purchase new uniform. During that year, they became the champion at their local football league. Their success, though, doesn’t last long because of the growing dilemma in United States and Europe. But in 1918, O’Brien reorganized the team once again. This starts their permanent status in the professional football arena in America.

The Racine Cardinals eventually become one of NFL’s forerunner league charter members. After becoming one of American Professional Football League charter member, O’Brien enticed a great halfback- the superior runner, authentic superstar, punter, clocker, and considered as the finest drop picker in football history, John Driscoll. He became the Cardinal’s head coach from 1921-22.

In 1992, Wisconsin, a team from the Racine, joined the National Football league and prompt the Cardinals to convert their name into Chicago Cardinals. In the same year, the team moved into Comiskey Park wherein they shared the place with White Sox, a baseball team, for thirty seven years.

IN 1925, the team successfully gains their first win in NFL championship. During that time, Cardinal is under the care of wings of their new coach, Norman Barry. In 1929, the team was bought by Dr. David Jones, a Chicago physician and have been under the care of Ernie Nevers which successfully guide Cardinals into a composite record of 16-14-3 in three seasons. But Nevers retired in 1932.

After Nevers retired, the Cardinals was bought by Charles W. Bidwill Sr. .The succeeding years have been quite difficult for the team. The team has been in St. Louis for 28 years. They have been also under the care of numerous different coaches. Within those years, the team experienced both the dawn of their victory as well as some loses.

In 1988, the Cardinals were moved to Arizona and the Sun Devil Stadium became their home. Their new home gave them a single-season and single game in their first years. From them on, they were called the Arizona Cardinals.

The National Football League was founded in 1920, but there were no playoffs or Super Bowl until 1932. From the year 1920 to 1932 the championship was bestowed to a squad through a voting system which was done by the owners of the teams during their annual meeting. From 1924 to 1932 the championship was awarded to the team with the highest win percentage. Here the teams were playing an altered number of games, so the counting of points didn’t hold good. Even the points awarded were not of any significance because they could not get a clear picture at the end of the league. It was in the year 1932 that these flaws showed up and additional games had to be played under difficult circumstances to bring out a clear picture to decide the winner. With these happenings it brought about changes and ultimately led to the birth of the playoffs.

The playoffs in the National Football League are held as an elimination tourney, played at the conclusion of each regular season to decide the winners of the National Football League. Half a dozen teams from the league’s two divisions succeed in qualifying to play in the playoffs. These are based on the current season points standing- if two teams are of same standings then the rule of tiebreaker comes into play. The tournament concludes with the final game, called the Super Bowl, which happens to be the league final game that matches the two divisional champions.

The National Football League expanded its wings in the year 1967 where four teams were eligible to play in the tournament, when the league fused with the American football league. The playoffs opened up to eight teams in the 1970s, then further expanded to a strength of ten teams in 1978, and twelve teams from the year 1990.

The NFL happens to be the only one out of four sports leagues’ for major professional sports in the United States, which makes use of the solitary elimination in its playoffs in all the four rounds. The other major professional sports use the ‘best of’ selection method instead. It’s fun to bet on the NFL Playoffs!

The NFL has grown over the years and at present has thirty two teams allocated into two divisions, and each of the divisions has sixteen teams in their pack. The divisions being the National Football Conference and the American Football Conference. Since 2002 they have been divided into four divisions of four teams each. Four teams from each division are ranked from one to four and two wild card entries will be ranked five and six.

Matches will be played among these teams against each other- for example the number one seeded team hosting the lower ranked sides. After these games are finished the two teams with best standings play each other in the Super Bowl to decide the winner. The Super Bowl begins with a lot of extravaganza and concludes with the final game which decides the winner of the National Football League.

NFL playoff betting is as much of a past time as watch the games themselves. If you wager on the games this weekend, please be responsible and hopefully you’ll win some cash $$$!

The 2015 season for the Cincinnati Bengals started with a considerable amount of hope from fans who had seen the franchise successfully reach the playoff for four consecutive years only to watch them fall in the first round. The franchises’ 48^th season and thirteenth under Marvin Lewis offered considerable promise given the offensive and defensive talent on the team.

Preseason

The Bengals picked up plenty of draft picks thanks to be awarded a second pick in the third round for losing Michael Johnson to free agency. The Bengals selected Cedric Ogbuehi, a tackle from Texas A & M to help shore up their offensive line.

In the preseason, the Bengals managed to go 3 – 1 and showcase the reasons why their fans were expecting plenty from the team as they smashed the New York Giants and Chicago Bears, but just squeaked out a victory against the Indianapolis Colts and losing to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Regular Season

It really seemed that the Bengals had a chip on their shoulder at least during the first part of the 2015 season. After rattling off a win against the Oakland Raiders, the Bengals beat their next five opponents in a row which included the San Diego Chargers, Baltimore Ravens, Kansas City Chiefs, Seattle Seahawks, and Buffalo Bills which had them 6 – 0 going into the bye week.

It seemed that nothing had changed for them after coming out of the bye week as they managed to beat two of their division rivals, the Pittsburg Steelers at Heinz Field and the Cleveland Browns to have the Bengals sitting at 8 – 0 with dreams of an undefeated season or at least home field advantage for the playoffs becoming closer to reality.

However, the following week the Bengals lost in curious fashion to the struggling Houston Texans at home and followed it up with a loss to the Arizona Cardinals at Phoenix. Still, the ship seemed to be righted when the Bengals managed to smash their next two opponents, the St. Louis Rams and their big division rivals, the Cleveland Browns to reach 10 – 2.

From there, the Bengals managed to split the final four games of the season, winning against the lowly San Francisco 49ers and finishing the season with a win against the Baltimore Ravens. However, it was the losses to Pittsburg at home and on the road in a crucial game against the Denver Broncos where the Bengals lost in overtime that prevented the team from getting home field advantage through the playoffs.

Despite the losses, the Bengals finished the regular season at a very remarkable 12 – 4, the most wins since 1988 when they made it to the Super Bowl.

Playoff Game

The Bengals entered the playoff game against their arch rivals, the Pittsburg Steelers at home. However, despite holding a small lead late in the game, two crucial defensive penalties allowed the Steelers to close within field goal distance and win the game 18 – 16. This marked the fifth time in a row that the Bengals had lost a first round playoff game, an NFL record.