# 1993 Cincinnati Bengals season

The 1993 Cincinnati Bengals season was the team's 26th year in professional football and its 24th with the National Football League. This for the first time since 1979, Anthony Muñoz was not on the opening day roster and for the first time since 1983, Boomer Esiason was not on the opening day roster. The David Klingler experiment at starting quarterback got off to a poor start, as the Bengals lost their first ten games for the second of three 0–8 starts in four seasons.
The Bengals would finally get their first win against the Los Angeles Raiders 16–10, at Riverfront Stadium, but were the last winless team for the first of two consecutive years. This ignominy would not be suffered subsequently by any NFL franchise until division rivals the Cleveland Browns went 1–31 in 2016 and 2017. After dropping their next two games, the Bengals closed the season by winning twice before losing their closer to a disappointing Saints outfit to finish with their second 3–13 season in three years.
The late-season win over the Raiders was their first win against a team that finished with a winning record since the 1990–91 AFC Wild Card win over the Oilers (41–14, January 6, 1991). This was the only such regular-season win from 1991–1994 and would be the last such win until week 1 of 1995 (Indianapolis). The win was one of only four against teams with winning records in head coach David Shula's tenure with the team.

## Offseason

* March 17, 1993: The Cincinnati Bengals traded Boomer Esiason to the New York Jets.

### NFL Draft

1993 Cincinnati Bengals draft :
| Round | Pick | Player | Position | College |
| 1 | 5 | John Copeland | Defensive end | Alabama |
| 2 | 37 | Tony McGee | Tight end | Michigan |
| 3 | 59 | Steve Tovar | Linebacker | Ohio State |
| 3 | 63 | Ty Parten | Defensive tackle | Arizona |
| 4 | 90 | Marcello Simmons | Defensive back | SMU |
| 5 | 117 | Forey Duckett | Defensive back | UNLV |
| 6 | 148 | Tom Scott | Offensive tackle | East Carolina |
| 7 | 175 | Lance Gunn | Defensive back | Texas |
| 8 | 202 | Doug Pelfrey | Placekicker | Kentucky |
| Made roster ||||||

## Regular season
### Schedule

| Week | Date | Opponent | Result | Record | Venue | Attendance |
| 1 | September 5 | at Cleveland Browns | L 14–27 | 0–1 | Cleveland Municipal Stadium | 75,508 |
| 2 | September 12 | Indianapolis Colts | L 6–9 | 0–2 | Riverfront Stadium | 50,299 |
| 3 | September 19 | at Pittsburgh Steelers | L 7–34 | 0–3 | Three Rivers Stadium | 53,682 |
| 4 | September 26 | Seattle Seahawks | L 10–19 | 0–4 | Riverfront Stadium | 46,880 |
| 5 | Bye | Bye | Bye | Bye | Bye | Bye |
| 6 | October 10 | at Kansas City Chiefs | L 15–17 | 0–5 | Arrowhead Stadium | 75,394 |
| 7 | October 17 | Cleveland Browns | L 17–28 | 0–6 | Riverfront Stadium | 55,647 |
| 8 | October 24 | at Houston Oilers | L 12–28 | 0–7 | Houston Astrodome | 50,039 |
| 9 | Bye | Bye | Bye | Bye | Bye | Bye |
| 10 | November 7 | Pittsburgh Steelers | L 16–24 | 0–8 | Riverfront Stadium | 51,202 |
| 11 | November 14 | Houston Oilers | L 3–38 | 0–9 | Riverfront Stadium | 42,347 |
| 12 | November 21 | at New York Jets | L 12–17 | 0–10 | Giants Stadium | 64,264 |
| 13 | November 28 | Los Angeles Raiders | W 16–10 | 1–10 | Riverfront Stadium | 43,272 |
| 14 | December 5 | at San Francisco 49ers | L 8–21 | 1–11 | Candlestick Park | 60,039 |
| 15 | December 12 | at New England Patriots | L 2–7 | 1–12 | Foxboro Stadium | 29,794 |
| 16 | December 19 | Los Angeles Rams | W 15–3 | 2–12 | Riverfront Stadium | 36,612 |
| 17 | December 26 | Atlanta Falcons | W 21–17 | 3–12 | Riverfront Stadium | 27,014 |
| 18 | January 2, 1994 | at New Orleans Saints | L 13–20 | 3–13 | Louisiana Superdome | 58,036 |

### Standings

AFC Central :
| viewtalkedit | W | L | T | PCT | PF | PA | STK |
| $^{(2)}$ Houston Oilers | 12 | 4 | 0 | .750 | 368 | 238 | W11 |
| $^{(6)}$ Pittsburgh Steelers | 9 | 7 | 0 | .563 | 308 | 281 | W1 |
| Cleveland Browns | 7 | 9 | 0 | .438 | 304 | 307 | L1 |
| Cincinnati Bengals | 3 | 13 | 0 | .188 | 187 | 319 | L1 |

## Team leaders
### Passing

| Player | Att | Comp | Yds | TD | INT | Rating |
| David Klingler | 343 | 190 | 1935 | 6 | 9 | 66.6 |

### Rushing

| Player | Att | Yds | YPC | Long | TD |
| Harold Green | 215 | 589 | 2.7 | 25 | 0 |
| Derrick Fenner | 121 | 482 | 4.0 | 26 | 1 |

### Receiving

| Player | Rec | Yds | Avg | Long | TD |
| Jeff Query | 56 | 654 | 11.7 | 51 | 4 |
| Carl Pickens | 43 | 565 | 13.1 | 36 | 6 |

### Defensive

| Player | Tackles | Sacks | INTs | FF | FR |
| Darryl Williams | 123 | 2.0 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| Danny Stubbs | 24 | 5.0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Michael Brim | 49 | 0.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 |

### Kicking and punting

| Player | FGA | FGM | FG% | XPA | XPM | XP% | Points |
| Doug Pelfrey | 31 | 24 | 77.4% | 16 | 13 | 81.3% | 85 |
| Player | Punts | Yards | Long | Blkd | Avg. |
| Lee Johnson | 90 | 3954 | 60 | 0 | 43.9 |

### Special teams

| Player | KR | KRYards | KRAvg | KRLong | KRTD | PR | PRYards | PRAvg | PRLong | PRTD |
| Patrick Robinson | 30 | 567 | 18.9 | 42 | 0 | 43 | 305 | 7.1 | 36 | 0 |

## Awards and records

* Against the New England Patriots in Week 15, the Bengals became the first NFL team since the Minnesota Vikings against the Detroit Lions in Week 14 of 1983, to score only a safety in a game. The next occurrence in the regular season was in the opening week of the 2013 Jacksonville Jaguars season against the Chiefs (the Atlanta Falcons were limited to a safety by the New York Giants in a 2011 NFC wild card playoff game).