The 2021 season was the

Cincinnati Bengals The Cincinnati Bengals are a professional American football team based in Cincinnati. The Bengals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC North, North division. The c ...

' 52nd season in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL), their 54th overall and their third under

head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in assoc ...

Zac Taylor Zachary William Taylor (born May 10, 1983) is an American football coach who is the head coach for the Cincinnati Bengals of the National Football League (NFL). Beginning his NFL career as an offensive assistant, he was the quarterbacks coach f ...

. They also played in new uniforms for the first time since

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

. The Bengals finished with a 10–7 record, exceeding their win total from the previous two seasons combined. The Bengals clinched their first winning season, first playoff appearance, and first

AFC North The American Football Conference – Northern Division or AFC North is one of the four divisions of the American Football Conference (AFC) in the National Football League (NFL). The division was adopted after the restructuring of the 2002 NFL s ...

title since

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

. It also marked their first

Super Bowl The Super Bowl is the annual final playoff game of the National Football League (NFL) to determine the league champion. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966, replacing the NFL Championship Game. Since 2022, the game ...

appearance since

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...

. The Bengals began their playoff run by defeating the

Las Vegas Raiders The Las Vegas Raiders are a professional American football team based in the Las Vegas metropolitan area. The Raiders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West divis ...

in the Wild Card round, winning their first playoff game since

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...

, and ending what was the NFL's longest playoff win drought. They beat the top-seeded

Tennessee Titans The Tennessee Titans are a professional American football team based in Nashville, Tennessee. The Titans compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division, and play their h ...

in the divisional round, which not only marked their first-ever playoff win on the road but also allowed them to advance to the AFC Championship Game for the first time since 1988. They upset the second-seeded

Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The tea ...

in overtime. As a result, they advanced to

Super Bowl LVI Super Bowl LVI was an American football game played to determine the champion of the National Football League (NFL) for the 2021 season. The National Football Conference (NFC) champion Los Angeles Rams defeated the American Football Conference ...

, their third Super Bowl in franchise history and first in 33 years. Quarterback

Joe Burrow Joseph Lee Burrow (born December 10, 1996) is an American football quarterback for the Cincinnati Bengals of the National Football League (NFL). Following a stint with Ohio State, Burrow played college football at LSU, where he won the Heisma ...

became the first second-year quarterback since

Russell Wilson Russell Carrington Wilson (born November 29, 1988) is an American football quarterback for the Denver Broncos of the National Football League (NFL). He previously played his first 10 seasons for the Seattle Seahawks. Wilson is widely regarded ...

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

to reach a Super Bowl, and the first No. 1-picked QB to do so within their first two seasons. However, the Bengals lost to the

Los Angeles Rams The Los Angeles Rams are a professional American football team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Rams compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) West division. The Rams play ...

in the Super Bowl 23–20.

Offseason

Free agents

Unrestricted

Restricted

Exclusive-Rights

Signings

Releases

Trades

* March 19 -

Quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

Ryan Finley and the Bengals'

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

seventh-round selection (No. 231 overall) were traded to the

Houston Texans The Houston Texans are a professional American football team based in Houston. The Texans compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division, and play their home ga ...

for the Texans' 2021 sixth-round selection (No. 200 overall). * August 30 -

Center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...

Billy Price was traded to the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. ...

for

defensive tackle A defensive tackle (DT) is a position in American football that will typically line up on the line of scrimmage, opposite one of the offensive guards, however he may also line up opposite one of the tackles. Defensive tackles are typically the la ...

B.J. Hill.

Draft

Trades * Seattle traded center

B. J. Finney Benjamin J. Isaac Finney II (born October 26, 1991) is a former American football guard. He played college football at Kansas State University, and was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2015. Finney also played for ...

and Detroit's seventh-round selection (No. 235) to Cincinnati for defensive end

Carlos Dunlap Carlos Dunlap (born February 28, 1989) is an American football defensive end for the Kansas City Chiefs of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Florida where he won a National Championship in 2009. He was drafted by ...

. * Cincinnati traded Ryan Finley and seventh round selection (No. 248) to the

in exchange for a sixth-round selection (No. 202). * Cincinnati traded their second-round selection (38th overall) to the

New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East divisio ...

in exchange for the Patriots second-round selection (46th overall) and two fourth-round selections (122nd and 139th overall).

Undrafted free agents

The Bengals announced their Undrafted free agent class on May 14.

Staff

Final roster

NFL Top 100

Preseason

The Bengals' preseason opponents and schedule were announced on May 12.

Regular season

Schedule

The Bengals

schedule was announced on May 12. Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text.

Game summaries

Week 1: vs. Minnesota Vikings

Week 2: at Chicago Bears

Week 3: at Pittsburgh Steelers

This was Cincinnati's first win in Pittsburgh since

Week 4: vs. Jacksonville Jaguars

The Bengals improved to 3–1 for the first time since

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

with this win, despite only taking the lead with 4 seconds left in the game on a game winning

Evan McPherson Evan McPherson (born July 21, 1999) is an American football placekicker for the Cincinnati Bengals of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Florida before being drafted by the Bengals in the fifth round of the 2021 N ...

field goal. Burrow was recognized as the AFC Offensive Player of the Week for his performance in this game, in which he completed 25 out of 32 passes for a total of 348 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions, posting a 132.8 passer rating.

Week 5: vs. Green Bay Packers

Week 6: at Detroit Lions

Week 7: at Baltimore Ravens

Week 8: at New York Jets

Week 9: vs. Cleveland Browns

Week 11: at Las Vegas Raiders

Week 12: vs. Pittsburgh Steelers

Week 13: vs. Los Angeles Chargers

Week 14: vs. San Francisco 49ers

Week 15: at Denver Broncos

Week 16: vs. Baltimore Ravens

Week 17: vs. Kansas City Chiefs

Week 18: at Cleveland Browns

Standings

Division

Conference

Postseason

Schedule

Game summaries

AFC Wild Card Playoffs: vs. (5) Las Vegas Raiders

AFC Divisional Playoffs: at (1) Tennessee Titans

AFC Championship: at (2) Kansas City Chiefs

Super Bowl LVI: vs. (N4) Los Angeles Rams

Notes

Statistics

Team

Individual

''Statistics correct as of the end of the

2021 NFL season The 2021 NFL season was the 102nd season of the National Football League (NFL). The season was the first to feature a 17-game regular season schedule as the league expanded the season from 16 games. The regular season started on September 9, ...

References

External links

* {{2021 NFL season by team

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

Cincinnati Bengals seasons AFC North championship seasons American Football Conference championship seasons