Bengals Tecmo Super Bowl Season — Week 17

The Cincinnati Bengals entered Week 17 having already clinched the AFC North Division Title. But they welcomed the Baltimore Ravens to town with hopes of improving their position in the playoff bracket.

The Bengals would receive the ball first and had a little bit of success early on. But back-to-back sacks by Haloti Ngata and Daryl Smith forced Cincinnati into a field goal attempt.

The kick by Mike Nugent was wide right as the Ravens would get their first possession of the game with the score still at 0-0.

The Bengals defense looked solid early on as they forced Baltimore into a quick three-and-out, giving the ball back to Andy Dalton and company.

And this is when someone would finally get on the board, but unfortunately it was not the Bengal offense. Another sack by Ngata resulted in a safety, giving the Ravens the first score of the game at 2-0.

And after a deep bomb to a wide open Torrey Smith got the Ravens in the red zone, another short toss to Smith got them into the end zone, as the Ravens would take a 9-0 lead as the first quarter came to a close.

So the Bengals would try again to get on the board but a third sack by Ngata would force Cincinnati to punt the ball away.

Looking to build on their 9-0 lead, Joe Flacco and the offense came back out on the field. However, breakout star Vontaze Burfict wouldn't allow them to get in the end zone this time as he found Flacco for the sack.

This forced the Ravens into a field goal attempt which was missed by Justin Tucker. The score would remain 9-0 in favor of Baltimore.

With the offense in another hole, Dalton carried the ball on 2nd and long, desperately trying to get the first down. But he was left lying on the field five yards short after a monstrous hit by defensive lineman Art Jones.

Dalton had to be helped off the field, and things did not look good for the Bengal signal caller.

Offensive coordinator Jay Gruden would hand the keys to Josh Johnson who came out in a 3rd and 5 situation.

And his first pass was incomplete, leading to another Bengals punt late in the first half.

Thanks to a deep bomb to wideout Jacoby Jones, the Ravens were able to get deep into Bengal territory and stop the clock with 5 ticks left before the half.

The field goal try was good this time by Justin Tucker, extending the Ravens lead to 12-0 as the second quarter came to a close.

A few deep passes to Torrey Smith had the Ravens offense clicking in the first half as he tallied 110 yards and one touchdown on only three receptions. And led by Haloti Ngata, the Baltimore defense kept the Bengal offense in check and out of the scoring column.

Unfortunately for the Bengals, the Ravens would get the ball right back coming out of the half with a chance to add even more to their lead. And that's exactly what they did as Ray Rice capped off a nice Baltimore drive with a rushing touchdown. The Baltimore lead would grow to 19-0 midway through the third.

With their first possession of the half, you could tell Johnson had shaken his first-half jitters and was able to put together a nice drive. He used his ability as a dual threat to mix some running with short passes to march all the way down the field for the score.

The touchdown would cut the Ravens lead to 19-7 but the drive would eat up a lot of time as the third quarter had already come to a close.

With only five minutes left to play, the Bengals were hoping for a spark using an onside kick. However, it was unsuccessful and was even recovered by Joe Flacco who is apparently a member of the Baltimore hands team.

With the decent field position, it didn't take long for Rice to find the end zone yet again, pushing the Raven lead back up to 26-7 early in the fourth quarter.

So the Bengals were in desperation mode as they got the ball back. And once again, second-string QB Josh Johnson led them down the field. This time, it was BenJarvus Green-Ellis running the ball in, narrowing the gap to 26-14 midway through the final quarter of play.

So the Bengals would try the onside kick once more, but once again it failed. Flacco got his hands on the ball again and didn't get brought down until he reached the Bengals 23-yard line.

From there, he was able to find a wide open Torrey Smith again for the completion and the touchdown score, placing the nail in the coffin on this one.

And that would make the final score as the Ravens would take one from the Bengals in Cincinnati, 33-14.

The Bengals were never really in this one starting with the Ravens safety early in the first quarter. Torrey Smith added another touchdown and some more yards in the second half, bringing his totals to 165 yards and two TD's on only five receptions. The Law Firm got the ball 14 times on the day but only came up with 78 yards and one TD. Of course, the biggest story, perhaps, was the loss of Andy Dalton to injury. And what would it mean for the Bengals as they enter the playoffs next week.

Speaking of the playoffs, with the regular season coming to a close, the playoff brackets were set. The Bengals will meet Peyton Manning and the dangerous Broncos in the first round. Should they make it to the divisional round, they will have to face the Texans who get the first round bye.

On the NFC side, the Rams and Vikings will meet, competing for a chance to take on the Packers. And the Bears will face the Giants with the winner of that game facing Tampa Bay.

And with a final look at the AFC North regular season standings, it was of course the Bengals backing into the division title with an 8-8 record. The Ravens and Browns finished one game behind at 7-9, while the Steelers claimed last place with a 5-11 record.

Bengals Tecmo Super Bowl Season — Week 16

Following an epic beat down of the Pittsburgh Steelers last week, the Bengals were looking to cruise past visiting Minnesota in Week 16 of the Tecmo Super Bowl Season.

The Bengals opened up in the first quarter looking like they hadn't missed a beat from last week as BenJarvus Green-Ellis broke loose for a quick touchdown score. This would give the Bengals an early 7-0 lead.

Cincinnati's defense started off just as hot too as a booming Rey Maualuga sack forced Minnesota to punt the ball back to the Bengals.

Minnesota finally regained their composure on the next Bengal drive as a Chad Greenway sack put Cincinnati in a big hole, leading to a punt. And that's how the quick opening quarter would end with the Bengals still clinging to a 7-0 lead.

Once the Viking defense was able to make a stop, the offense then came to life. Quarterback Christian Ponder found Kyle Rudolph deep for a 67-yard pass that got them well in the red zone.

After being out Week 15, Adrian Peterson was back and certainly made his presence felt in this game as he took the ball the rest of the way for six points.

The Bengals again were forced to punt the ball away, this time from the shadow of their own end zone which gave the Vikings decent field position midway through the second quarter.

Minnesota would take advantage, getting three points from kicker Blair Walsh just as the first half came to a close.

This would make the score 10-7 in favor of the men in purple as both teams headed to their locker rooms.

Starting off the second half, Ponder went deep again with a pass. This time he found former Bengal Jerome Simpson who made a spectacular diving catch to get the Vikings down to the Cincinnati 20-yard line.

Knowing that the Bengals were expecting Peterson to get a touch here, Ponder sneaked it in himself for the score, extending the Viking lead to 17-7.

On the ensuing Bengal drive, the offensive struggles continued as Andy Dalton and company had trouble getting in sync. They would be forced to punt it away, giving Minnesota a chance to make it a three-possession game midway through the third.

And that's exactly what they did as Adrian Peterson weaved in and out of the Bengal defense, leading many to start calling him "Baby Bo." He would find pay dirt and give his team a commanding 24-7 lead late in the third quarter.

At this point, the Bengals were definitely looking for some type of spark if they wanted to make any kind of a comeback. So Dalton aired it out and found none other than Mohamed Sanu deep for a 53-yard gain, leaving Cincinnati just a few yards away from the end zone.

Dalton carried it in from there, closing the gap to 24-14 early in the final quarter of play.

Unfortunately, the Bengal defense still had no answer for Peterson who once again put on his Bo Jackson shoes and broke every ankle of the Cincinnati secondary, torching them for six more points.

Cincinnati had one more chance to at least make the game respectable. Even though they were down by 17, they continued to hand the ball off to Green-Ellis. He did make the most of it though as he scampered in for a last-second touchdown.

This made the final score in Paul Brown Stadium the Vikings 31, the Bengals 21.

Adrian Peterson only had eight carries on the day, but that's all he needed to shred up Cincinnati for 142 yards and three touchdowns. Green-Ellis ended up with over 100 yards on the ground as the Bengals continued to feed him the ball all game.

After the game, though, the Bengal players rushed back to the locker room area to watch the ending of the Ravens game as a Baltimore loss would still allow Cincinnati to clinch the AFC North Division. And lose the game they did as the champagne bottles were popped in Paul Brown Stadium. The Bengals will meet those same Ravens in the regular season finale next week as Cincinnati hopes to jockey for a better position in the 2013 Tecmo Super Bowl playoff bracket.