# 1996 Cincinnati Bengals season

The 1996 Cincinnati Bengals season was the franchise's 29th in professional football and its 27th with the National Football League. The Dave Shula era came to a sudden end when he was fired after a 1–6 start, as Jeff Blake struggled with turnovers. Former Bengals tight end Bruce Coslet, the team's offensive coordinator and a former New York Jets head coach, would replace Shula as head coach. The move paid off right away as the Bengals won the first three games under Coslet. After losing two of their next three games, the Bengals closed the year with three straight wins to finish with an 8–8 record. One bright spot was that wide receiver Carl Pickens became the first member of the Bengals to have 100 receptions in a season.

## Offseason
### NFL draft

1996 Cincinnati Bengals draft :
| Round | Pick | Player | Position | College |
| 1 | 10 | Willie Anderson * | Offensive tackle | Auburn |
| 2 | 39 | Marco Battaglia | Tight end | Rutgers |
| 3 | 69 | Ken Blackman | Guard | Illinois |
| 4 | 108 | Jevon Langford | Defensive end | Oklahoma State |
| 5 | 144 | Greg Myers | Defensive back | Colorado State |
| 6 | 178 | Tom Tumulty | Linebacker | Pittsburgh |
| 7 | 219 | Rod Jones | Offensive tackle | Kansas |
| Made roster * Made at least one Pro Bowl during career ||||||

### Undrafted free agents

1996 Undrafted free agents of note :
| Player | Position | College |
| Nick Ferguson | Safety | Georgia Tech |
| Chris Hetherington | Fullback | Yale |
| Damon Huard | Quarterback | Washington |
| Tim Morabito | Defensive tackle | Boston College |

## Regular season
### Schedule

| Week | Date | Opponent | Result | Attendance | TV Time(EST) | TV Announcers |
| 1 | September 1, 1996 | at St. Louis Rams | L 26–16 | 62,659 | NBC 1:00pm | Dan Hicks & Bart Oates |
| 2 | September 8, 1996 | at San Diego Chargers | L 27–14 | 55,880 | NBC 4:00pm | Jim Lampley & Bob Golic |
| 3 | September 15, 1996 | New Orleans Saints | W 30–15 | 45,412 | FOX 1:00pm | Kenny Albert & Tim Green |
| 4 | Bye | Bye | Bye | Bye | Bye | Bye |
| 5 | September 29, 1996 | Denver Broncos | L 14–10 | 51,798 | NBC 1:00pm | Charlie Jones & Randy Cross |
| 6 | October 6, 1996 | Houston Oilers | L 30–27 (OT) | 44,680 | TNT 8:00pm | Verne Lundquist & Pat Haden |
| 7 | October 13, 1996 | at Pittsburgh Steelers | L 20–10 | 58,875 | NBC 1:00pm | Charlie Jones & Randy Cross |
| 8 | October 20, 1996 | at San Francisco 49ers | L 28–21 | 63,218 | NBC 4:00pm | Dick Enberg, Paul Maguire & Phil Simms |
| 9 | October 27, 1996 | Jacksonville Jaguars | W 28–21 | 45,890 | NBC 1:00pm | Don Criqui & Beasley Reece |
| 10 | November 3, 1996 | at Baltimore Ravens | W 24–21 | 60,743 | NBC 1:00pm | Don Criqui & Beasley Reece |
| 11 | November 10, 1996 | Pittsburgh Steelers | W 34–24 | 57,265 | NBC 1:00pm | Don Criqui & Beasley Reece |
| 12 | November 17, 1996 | at Buffalo Bills | L 31–17 | 75,549 | NBC 1:00pm | Don Criqui & Beasley Reece |
| 13 | November 24, 1996 | Atlanta Falcons | W 41–31 | 44,868 | FOX 1:00pm | Thom Brennaman & Ron Pitts |
| 14 | December 1, 1996 | at Jacksonville Jaguars | L 30–27 | 57,408 | NBC 1:00pm | Dan Hicks & Bart Oates |
| 15 | December 8, 1996 | Baltimore Ravens | W 21–14 | 43,022 | NBC 1:00pm | Jim Lampley & Bob Golic |
| 16 | December 15, 1996 | at Houston Oilers | W 21–13 | 15,131 | NBC 4:00pm | Jim Lampley & Bob Golic |
| 17 | December 22, 1996 | Indianapolis Colts | W 31–24 | 49,389 | NBC 1:00pm | Jim Lampley & Bob Golic |
| Note: Intra-division opponents are in bold text. |||||||

### Standings

AFC Central :
| viewtalkedit | W | L | T | PCT | PF | PA | STK |
| $^{(3)}$ Pittsburgh Steelers | 10 | 6 | 0 | .625 | 344 | 257 | L2 |
| $^{(5)}$ Jacksonville Jaguars | 9 | 7 | 0 | .563 | 325 | 335 | W5 |
| Cincinnati Bengals | 8 | 8 | 0 | .500 | 372 | 369 | W3 |
| Houston Oilers | 8 | 8 | 0 | .500 | 345 | 319 | W1 |
| Baltimore Ravens | 4 | 12 | 0 | .250 | 371 | 441 | L3 |

## Team leaders
### Passing

| Player | Att | Comp | Yds | TD | INT | Rating |
| Jeff Blake | 549 | 308 | 3624 | 24 | 14 | 80.3 |

### Rushing

| Player | Att | Yds | YPC | Long | TD |
| Garrison Hearst | 225 | 847 | 3.8 | 24 | 0 |
| Ki-Jana Carter | 91 | 264 | 2.9 | 31 | 8 |

### Receiving

| Player | Rec | Yds | Avg | Long | TD |
| Carl Pickens | 100 | 1180 | 11.8 | 61 | 12 |

### Defensive

| Player | Tackles | Sacks | INTs | FF | FR |
| Steve Tovar | 104 | 3.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| Dan Wilkinson | 44 | 6.5 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Ashley Ambrose | 50 | 2.0 | 8 | 1 | 0 |

### Kicking and punting

| Player | FGA | FGM | FG% | XPA | XPM | XP% | Points |
| Doug Pelfrey | 28 | 23 | 82.1% | 41 | 41 | 100.0% | 110 |
| Player | Punts | Yards | Long | Blkd | Avg. |
| Lee Johnson | 80 | 3630 | 67 | 1 | 45.4 |

### Special teams

| Player | KR | KRYards | KRAvg | KRLong | KRTD | PR | PRYards | PRAvg | PRLong | PRTD |
| David Dunn | 35 | 782 | 22.3 | 90 | 1 | 7 | 54 | 7.7 | 20 | 0 |
| Corey Sawyer | 12 | 241 | 20.1 | 33 | 0 | 15 | 117 | 7.8 | 62 | 0 |

## Awards and records

* Carl Pickens, Franchise Record, Most Receptions in One Season, 100 Receptions
* Carl Pickens, Led AFC, Receptions, 100 Receptions

### Milestones

* Carl Pickens, 3rd 1000 Yard Receiving Season, 1,180 yards