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| - The 1988 Cincinnati Bengals season was the team's 21st year in professional football and its 19th with the National Football League. The Bengals were a team on the rebound. During the 1987 strike-shortened season, quarterback Boomer Esiason and head coach Sam Wyche had openly feuded, and the team finished with a miserable 4–11 record. A lot of Bengals fans would have been happy to see them both leave the team, but they worked out their differences in the off-season and Esiason ended up having the best season of his career en route to Super Bowl XXIII. During the regular season, he threw for 3,572 yards and 28 touchdown passes with only 14 interceptions, while also rushing for 248 yards and a touchdown on 43 carries. Esiason's performance made him the top rated quarterback in the league wit
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| abstract
| - The 1988 Cincinnati Bengals season was the team's 21st year in professional football and its 19th with the National Football League. The Bengals were a team on the rebound. During the 1987 strike-shortened season, quarterback Boomer Esiason and head coach Sam Wyche had openly feuded, and the team finished with a miserable 4–11 record. A lot of Bengals fans would have been happy to see them both leave the team, but they worked out their differences in the off-season and Esiason ended up having the best season of his career en route to Super Bowl XXIII. During the regular season, he threw for 3,572 yards and 28 touchdown passes with only 14 interceptions, while also rushing for 248 yards and a touchdown on 43 carries. Esiason's performance made him the top rated quarterback in the league with a 97.4 passer rating and earned him the NFL Most Valuable Player Award. Cincinnati had a number of offensive weapons, boasting 6 Pro Bowl selections. Wide receiver Eddie Brown was the top receiver on the team, with 54 receptions for 1,273 yards and 9 touchdowns, setting franchise records for most receiving yards in season, highest yards per catch average in a season (24.0) and most receiving yards in a single game (216 against the Pittsburgh Steelers). Wide receiver Tim McGee and Pro Bowl tight end Rodney Holman were also major threats, combining for 75 receptions, 1,213 yards, and 9 touchdowns. Rookie fullback Ickey Woods was their top rusher with 1,066 yards and 15 touchdowns, while also catching 21 passes for 199 yards. Woods gained a lot of media attention with his "Ickey Shuffle", a dance routine he did in the end zone to celebrate his touchdowns. Multi-talented running back James Brooks was also a key contributor, gaining a total of 1,218 combined rushing and receiving yards and 14 touchdowns. And the Bengals' offensive line was led by such Pro Bowl players as right guard Max Montoya and left tackle Anthony Muñoz. Muñoz was named the NFL Offensive Lineman of the Year the third time in his career, and was selected to play in the Pro Bowl for the 8th season in a row. The Bengals' pioneering use of the Hurry-up offense was perfected that year, making it difficult for defenders to respond to plays. With all these weapons, Cincinnati's offense led the NFL in scoring (448 points), rushing yards (2,710), and total yards (6,302). The Bengals defense ranked 17th in the league, allowing 5,556 yards and 329 points during the regular season. Cincinnati had a superb defensive line, led by Pro Bowl defensive tackle Tim Krumrie, along with linemen Jim Skow (9.5 sacks), David Grant (5 sacks), and Jason Buck (6 sacks). Pro Bowl defensive backs Eric Thomas and David Fulcher combined for 12 interceptions. The team ended up winning the AFC Central with a 12 – 4 record. Bengals were to play the San Francisco 49ers. On the evening of January 21, 1989, the night before the game, Stanley Wilson told the coaching staff that he had left his playbook in his hotel room before a team meeting. When he was fifteen minutes late, his position coach, Jim Anderson, looked for him. He found Wilson crumpled on the bathroom floor of his hotel room with cocaine next to him. Later that night, he slipped away from a Bengal staffer who was watching him and got more cocaine. No one from the Bengals heard from him again until the day after the game. Tim Krumrie may perhaps be best known for suffering one of the most dramatic football injuries ever televised, a shattered leg during Super Bowl XXIII against the San Francisco 49ers. Although it was reported at the time and widely believed that his foot caught in the grass, causing the break, a Cincinnati videographer had the best angle, and the breaks to Krumrie's leg occurred when Roger Craig's knee smashed through both lower leg bones. Krumrie suffered two breaks in his tibia and another in his fibula. It has been argued that the loss of Stanley Wilson and Tim Krumrie suffering a broken leg may have contributed to the Bengals' loss to the 49ers. The field at Joe Robbie Stadium was somewhat muddy that night, but Wilson usually excelled in these conditions.
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