Super Bowl power rankings: Who’s the best loser?
By John Buhler
21. 1988 Cincinnati Bengals, Super Bowl XXIII
The 1988 Cincinnati Bengals won the AFC Central with a 12-4 record under innovative head coach Sam Wyche. Cincinnati would beat the Seattle Seahawks in the Divisional round and the Buffalo Bills in the 1988 AFC Championship to the last Super Bowl the team has been in since.
Awaiting the Bengals in Super Bowl XXIII was the same team that beat them seven years before in Super Bowl XVI in the San Francisco 49ers. The Bengals and 49ers would face off in Joe Robbie Stadium in Miami, with the 49ers as a seven-point favorite over the Bengals.
Cincinnati, like in Super Bowl XVI, gave the 49ers everything they had in this Super Bowl, but ultimately came up four points short, losing to San Francisco 20-16.
The Bengals were leading in the final minute of the game before 49ers quarterback Joe Montana deliver the game-winning touchdown with 34 seconds left, devastating the Bengals faithful. Cincinnati’s lone touchdown in Super Bowl XXIII came on a 93-yard kickoff return by Stanford Jennings in the second half.
The no-huddle offense of the Bengals couldn’t manage a touchdown for Wyche and it ultimately cost the Bengals another chance at winning a Super Bowl. That’s all it might have taken to give Ohio its first and only Super Bowl to date.
Next: 20. 2003 Carolina Panthers