1968 Cincinnati Bengals season

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1968 Cincinnati Bengals season
Head Coach	Paul Brown
Home Field	Nippert Stadium

Results
Record	3-11-0
Place	5th, AFL West
Playoff Finish
Timeline

Previous Season	Next Season
First Season	1969

The 1968 Cincinnati Bengals season was the team's 1st year in professional football. Paul Brown, who left the Cleveland Browns following the 1962 season with an NFL record of 115-49-6, seven conference titles, and three NFL championships, had the urge to get back into football. His son Mike Brown did a study on pro football expansion and recommended Cincinnati as a potential site. In 1965, Brown met with Ohio Governor James Rhodes and the two agreed the state could accommodate a second pro football team.

1966 - Fearful the Reds baseball team would leave town and feeling pressure from local businessmen pushing for a pro football franchise, Cincinnati's city council approved the construction of Riverfront Stadium.

1967 - Brown's group was awarded an AFL expansion franchise. Brown called the team the Bengals, the name of Cincinnati's pro teams in the old AFL of the late 1930s. The Bengals acquired their first player late in the year when they traded two draft picks to Miami for QB John Stofa.

1968 - The Bengals were awarded 40 veteran players in the allocation draft. In the college draft, they selected Tennessee center Bob Johnson as their first pick. The Bengals lost their first preseason game, 38-14, to Kansas City before 21,682 fans at Nippert Stadium. The Bengals upset Denver, 24-10, and Buffalo, 34-23, in their first two regular-season home games. Paul Robinson led the AFL in rushing with 1023 yards and was named Rookie of the Year.

1 Offseason
- 1.1 AFL Draft
2 Regular Season
3 Postseason
4 Awards and records
- 4.1 Milestones
- 4.2 NEWS
5 References

[edit] Offseason

[edit] AFL Draft

1968 Cincinnati Bengals AFL Draft
Round	Player	Position	School/Club Team	Selection #
1	Bob Johnson	C	Tennessee	2nd
2a	Bill Staley	DE/T	Utah St.	28th
2b	Tom Smiley	RB	Lamar	55th
3a	Gary Davis	QB	Vanderbilt	56th
3b	Paul Robinson	RB	Arizona	82nd
3c	Dale Livingston	K	Western Michigan	83rd
4a	Jess Phillips	DB	Michigan St.	84th
4b	Warren McVea	RB	Houston	109th
5a	Dave Middendorf	G	Washington St.	112th
5b	Al Beauchamp	LB	Southern U.	138th
6a	Howard Fest	T	Texas	139th
6b	Bill Kendricks	DT	Alabama A&M	143rd
6c	John Neidert	LB	Louisville	145th
6d	Dewey Warren	QB	Tennessee	155th
6e	Essex Johnson	RB	Grambling	156th
6f	Elmo Maples	WR	Southern U.	158th
6g	Sidney Ellis	DB	Jackson St.	160th
6h	Monk Williams	RB	Arkansas A,M&N	163rd
6i	Jim Johnson	DB	S. Carolina St.	165th
7a	Steve Smith	TE	Miami (FLA)	166th
7b	Wes Bean	LB	Grambling	192nd
8a	Harry Gunner	LB	Oregon St.	193rd
8b	Ed Brantley	T	N. Texas St.	219th
9a	Phil Johnson	DB	Long Beach St.	220th
9b	Steve Hanrahan	DT	Weber St.	246th
10a	Wayne Patrick	RB	Louisville	247th
10b	James Russell	TE	N. Texas St.	273rd
11a	Wally Scott	CB	Arizona	274th
12a	Bob Trumpy	TE	Utah	301st
12b	Harold Jones	T	Grambling	327th
13a	James Bivins	LB	Texas Southern	328th
13b	Ted Washington	RB	San Diego St.	354th
14a	Les Webster	RB	Iowa St.	355th
14b	Steve Lewicke	DE	Texas El-Paso	381st
15a	Harvey Palmore	G	Morgan St.	382nd
15b	Joe Mira	WR	Miami (FLA)	408th
16a	James Williams	DB	Alcorn A&M	409th
16b	Brown Marks	LB	Indiana	435th
17a	Don Manning	LB	UCLA	436th
17b	James Smith	TE	Jackson St.	462nd

[edit] Regular Season

[edit] Division standings

Team	W	L	T	PCT	PF	PA
Western Division
*Oakland Raiders	12	2	0	.857	453	233
Kansas City Chiefs	12	2	0	.857	371	170
San Diego Chargers	9	5	0	.643	382	310
Denver Broncos	5	9	0	.357	255	404
Cincinnati Bengals	3	11	0	.214	215	329

^[1]

[edit] Season Schedule

19XX Season Schedule
Date	Opponent	W-L	Score	ATT.	Stadium
September 6	San Diego	L	13-29	33,687	San Diego
September 15	Denver	W	24-10	25,049	Nippert
September 22	Buffalo	W	34-23	24,045	Nippert
September 29	San Diego	L	10-31	28,642	Nippert
October 6	Denver	L	7-10	41,257	Bears
October 13	Kansas City	L	3-13	47,096	Municipal
October 20	Miami	L	22-24	25,942	Nippert
October 27	Oakland	L	10-31	37,083	Coliseum
November 3	Houston	L	17-27	24,012	Nippert
November 10	Kansas City	L	9-16	25,537	Nippert
November 17	Miami	W	38-21	31,747	Orange Bowl
November 24	Oakland	L	0-34	27,116	Nippert
December 1	Boston	L	14-33	17,796	Fenway Park
December 8	NY Jets	L	14-27	61,111	Shea

Playoffs
Date	Opponent	W-L	Score	ATT.	Stadium

[edit] Team Stats

1968 Cincinnati Bengals Team Stats
TEAM STATS	Bengals	Opponents
TOTAL FIRST DOWNS	171	275
Rushing	85	116
Passing	73	140
Penalty	13	19
TOTAL NET YARDS	3426	4717
Avg Per Game	244.7	336.9
Total Plays	772	916
Avg. Per Play	4.4	5.1
NET YARDS RUSHING	1807	2097
Avg. Per Game	129.1	149.8
Total Rushes	421	473
NET YARDS PASSING	1619	2620
Avg. Per Game	115.6	187.1
Sacked Yards Lost	38-277	32-283
Gross Yards	1896	2903
Att. Completions	313-167	411-212
Completion Pct.	53.4	51.6
Intercepted	11	10
PUNTS-AVERAGE	84-40.9	63-44.2
PENALTIES-YARDS	55-586	62-632
FUMBLES-BALL LOST	27-10	19-9
TOUCHDOWNS	25	39
Rushing	14	13
Passing	8	25
Returns	3	1

Score by Periods	1	2	3	4	Tot
Bengals	20	49	70	76	215
Opponents	70	78	73	108	329

[edit] Team Leaders

Passing: John Stofa (177 Att, 85 Comp, 896 Yds, 48.0 Pct, 5 TD, 5 Int, 60.8 Rating)
Rushing: Paul Robinson (238 Att, 1023 Yds, 4.3 Avg, 87 Long, 8 TD)
Receiving: Bob Trumpy (37 Rec, 639 Yds, 17.3 Avg, 80 Long, 3 TD)
Scoring: Dale Livingston, 59 points (13 FG; 20 PAT)

[edit] Roster

Cincinnati Bengals roster

view • talk • edit

Quarterbacks

Running Backs

45 Tom Smiley
22 Ted Washington
18 Paul Robinson
40 Ron Lamb
19 Essex Johnson
30 Jess Phillips
38 Estes Banks

Wide Receivers

6 Monk Williams
23 Rod Sherman
27 Saint Saffold
42 Warren McVea
82 Ed McCall

Tight Ends

34 Ken Herock
86 Andre White
84 Bob Trumpy

Offensive Linemen

54 Bob Johnson
52 John Matlock
57 ????
75 Ernie Wright
78 Dan Archer
77 Bob Kelly
73 Pat Matson
68 Dave Middendorf
64 Pete Perreault
72 Howard Fest

Defensive Linemen

76 Jim Griffin
89 Harry Gunner
85 Martin Baccaglio
81 Dennis Randall
70 Andy Rice
83 Bill Staley
79 Steve Chomyszak
65 Bill Kindricks
74 Willie Lee Jones

Linebackers

52 Paul Elzey
50 Bernard Erickson
58 Al Beauchamp
85 Dan Brabham
55 Frank Buncom
69 Sherrill Headrick
56 Mike Hibler
87 Bill Peterson
53 John Neidert
66 Wayne McClure

Defensive Backs

37 Bill Scott
31 Sam Fletcher
47 Charlie King
43 Curt Frazier
20 Bobby Hunt
41 White Graves
48 Phil Spiller

Special Teams

44 Rex Keeling P
11 Dale Livingston P
41 Terry Swanson P

[edit] Postseason

[edit] Awards and records

[edit] Milestones

PRO BOWL PLAYERS

C Bob Johnson
RB Paul Robinson, Rookie of the Year.
TE Bob Trumpy

[edit] NEWS

Paul Brown, founder of the Cincinnati Bengals, was enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1967.

[edit] References

^ NFL 2001 Record and Fact Book, Workman Publishing Co, New York,NY, ISBN 0-7611-2480-2, p. 298

v • d • e Cincinnati Bengals

The Franchise	Franchise • History • Players • Seasons • Draft

Stadiums	Nippert Stadium • Riverfront Stadium • Paul Brown Stadium

Culture	Battle of Ohio • Bengals-Steelers Rivalry • Who Dey

Lore	Freezer Bowl

Head Coaches	Brown • Johnson • Rice • Gregg • Wyche • Shula • Coslet • LeBeau • Lewis

Division Championships (6)	1970, 1973, 1981, 1988, 1990, 2005

Super Bowl Appearances (2)	XVI • XXIII

Retired Numbers	54

Seasons	1968 • 1969 • 1970 • 1971 • 1972 • 1973 • 1974 • 1975 • 1976 • 1977 • 1978 • 1979 • 1980 • 1981 • 1982 • 1983 • 1984 • 1985 • 1986 • 1987 • 1988 • 1989 • 1990 • 1991 • 1992 • 1993 • 1994 • 1995 • 1996 • 1997 • 1998 • 1999 • 2000 • 2001 • 2002 • 2003 • 2004 • 2005 • 2006 • 2007 • 2008

Current League Affiliations	League: National Football League • Conference: American Football Conference • Division: North Division

1968 AFL Season v • d • e
Eastern Division	Western Division
Boston	Cincinnati
Buffalo	Denver
Houston	Kansas City
Miami	Oakland
New York Jets	San Diego
1969 AFL Draft • AFL Playoffs • 1968 AFL All-Star game • Super Bowl III Related: 1968 NFL Season

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