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.
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