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2002 Cincinnati Bengals season

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2002 Cincinnati Bengals season
Head coachDick LeBeau
Home fieldPaul Brown Stadium
Results
Record2–14
Division place4th AFC North
Playoff finishDid not qualify
Pro BowlersFB Lorenzo Neal

The 2002 Cincinnati Bengals season was the franchise's 33rd season in the National Football League (NFL), the 35th overall, and the second and final full season under head coach Dick LeBeau. With a record of 2–14, however, they were the worst team in football in 2002. The team's struggles continued as they lost their first seven contests losing by an average of 19 points in each game. The Bengals would finally garner their first victory Week 8 by soundly defeating the expansion Houston Texans on the road 38–3. The winning would not last long, however, as the Bengals lost their next six games to fall to 1–13, this lethargic result was later matched by the 2019 team, which also finished at 2–14.

In their final game at home, the Bengals would stun the New Orleans Saints 20–13 to earn their second win on the season, but there would be no saving the Bengals from setting a new franchise record for losses as they finished the season with a 27–9 loss to the Buffalo Bills on the road to finish with a league-worst 2–14 record. This resulted in the Bengals owner Mike Brown firing head coach Dick LeBeau and replacing him with Washington's defensive coordinator Marvin Lewis.

By being the worst team in 2002, they earned the first pick in the 2003 NFL draft, which they would use to draft Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Carson Palmer out of USC, and releasing embattled quarterback Akili Smith.[1]

Offseason

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Additions Subtractions
QB Gus Frerotte (Broncos) TE Tony McGee (Cowboys)
WR Michael Westbrook (Redskins) WR Darnay Scott (Cowboys)
CB Jeff Burris (Colts) FS Chris Carter (Texans)

NFL draft

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Main article: 2002 NFL draft
2002 Cincinnati Bengals draft
Round Pick Player Position College Notes
1 10 Levi Jones  Offensive tackle Arizona State
2 41 Lamont Thompson  Safety Washington State
3 67 Matt Schobel  Tight end TCU
4 109 Travis Dorsch  Punter Purdue
6 181 Marquand Manuel  Safety Florida
7 219 Joey Evans  Defensive end North Carolina
      Made roster  

[2]

Undrafted free agents

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2002 undrafted free agents of note
Player Position College
Dwayne Levels Linebacker Oklahoma State
Reggie Myles Defensive back Alabama
Thatcher Szalay Center Montana

Personnel

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2002 Cincinnati Bengals staff

Front office

Head coaches

Offensive coaches

Defensive coaches

Special teams coaches

Strength and conditioning

  • Strength and conditioning – Kim Wood
  • Strength and conditioning assistant – Rodney Holman


Roster

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2002 Cincinnati Bengals roster
Quarterbacks (QB)

Running backs (RB)

Wide receivers (WR)

Tight ends (TE)

Offensive linemen (OL)
  • 60 Reggie Coleman T

Defensive linemen (DL)

Linebackers (LB)

Defensive backs (DB)

Special teams

Practice squad
  • 46 Tito Rodriguez LB

Reserve

  • 45 Stephon Kelly S (IR)
Rookies in italics
53 active, 11 reserve, 3 practice squad

Regular season

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Schedule

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Week Date Opponent Result Record Attendance
1 September 8, 2002 San Diego Chargers L 6–34 0–1 53,705
2 September 15, 2002 at Cleveland Browns L 7–20 0–2 73,358
3 September 22, 2002 at Atlanta Falcons L 3–30 0–3 68,129
4 September 29, 2002 Tampa Bay Buccaneers L 7–35 0–4 57,234
5 October 6, 2002 at Indianapolis Colts L 21–28 0–5 56,570
6 October 13, 2002 Pittsburgh Steelers L 7–34 0–6 63,900
7 Bye
8 October 27, 2002 Tennessee Titans L 24–30 0–7 52,822
9 November 3, 2002 at Houston Texans W 38–3 1–7 69,827
10 November 10, 2002 at Baltimore Ravens L 27–38 1–8 69,024
11 November 17, 2002 Cleveland Browns L 20–27 1–9 64,060
12 November 24, 2002 at Pittsburgh Steelers L 21–29 1–10 60,473
13 December 1, 2002 Baltimore Ravens L 23–27 1–11 44,878
14 December 8, 2002 at Carolina Panthers L 31–52 1–12 66,799
15 December 15, 2002 Jacksonville Jaguars L 15–29 1–13 42,092
16 December 22, 2002 New Orleans Saints W 20–13 2–13 43,544
17 December 29, 2002 at Buffalo Bills L 9–27 2–14 47,850

Note: Intra-divisional opponents are in bold text

Game summaries

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Week 3: at Atlanta Falcons

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Week 3: Cincinnati Bengals at Atlanta Falcons
Quarter 1 2 34Total
Bengals 0 3 003
Falcons 13 7 7330

at Georgia Dome, Atlanta, Georgia

Game information

Week 17: at Buffalo Bills

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Week 17: Cincinnati Bengals at Buffalo Bills
Quarter 1 2 34Total
Bengals 0 3 069
Bills 6 14 7027

at Ralph Wilson Stadium, Orchard Park, New York

  • Date: December 29, 2002
  • Game time: 1:00 pm
  • Game weather: Cloudy, 35 °F (2 °C)
  • Game attendance: 47,850
  • Referee: Mike Carey (94)
  • TV: CBS
  • Recap, Game Book
Game information

Standings

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Division

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AFC North
W L T PCT DIV CONF PF PA STK
(3) Pittsburgh Steelers 10 5 1 .656 6–0 8–4 390 345 W3
(6) Cleveland Browns 9 7 0 .563 3–3 7–5 344 320 W2
Baltimore Ravens 7 9 0 .438 3–3 7–5 316 354 L2
Cincinnati Bengals 2 14 0 .125 0–6 1–11 279 456 L1

Conference

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AFC
# Team Division W L T PCT DIV CONF SOS SOV
Division leaders
1[a] Oakland Raiders West 11 5 0 .688 4–2 9–3 .529 .531
2[a] Tennessee Titans South 11 5 0 .688 6–0 9–3 .479 .474
3 Pittsburgh Steelers North 10 5 1 .656 6–0 8–4 .486 .451
4[b] New York Jets East 9 7 0 .563 4–2 6–6 .500 .500
Wild Cards
5 Indianapolis Colts South 10 6 0 .625 4–2 8–4 .479 .400
6[c] Cleveland Browns North 9 7 0 .563 3–3 7–5 .486 .413
Did not qualify for the postseason
7[c][d] Denver Broncos West 9 7 0 .563 3–3 5–7 .527 .486
8[b][c][d][e] New England Patriots East 9 7 0 .563 4–2 6–6 .525 .455
9[b][e] Miami Dolphins East 9 7 0 .563 2–4 7–5 .508 .486
10[f] Buffalo Bills East 8 8 0 .500 2–4 5–7 .473 .352
11[f][g] San Diego Chargers West 8 8 0 .500 3–3 6–6 .492 .453
12[g] Kansas City Chiefs West 8 8 0 .500 2–4 6–6 .527 .516
13 Baltimore Ravens North 7 9 0 .438 3–3 7–5 .506 .384
14 Jacksonville Jaguars South 6 10 0 .375 1–5 4–8 .506 .438
15 Houston Texans South 4 12 0 .250 1–5 2–10 .518 .492
16 Cincinnati Bengals North 2 14 0 .125 0–6 1–11 .537 .406
Tiebreakers[h]
  1. ^ a b Oakland finished ahead of Tennessee based on head-to-head victory.
  2. ^ a b c N.Y. Jets finished ahead of New England based on win percentage in common games (8–4 to 7–5) and Miami based on division record (4–2 to 2–4).
  3. ^ a b c Cleveland finished ahead of Denver and New England based on conference record (7–5 vs 5–7/6–6)
  4. ^ a b Denver finished ahead of New England based on head-to-head victory.
  5. ^ a b New England finished ahead of Miami based on division record (4–2 to 2–4).
  6. ^ a b Buffalo finished ahead of San Diego based on head-to-head victory.
  7. ^ a b San Diego finished ahead of Kansas City based on division record (3–3 to 2–4).
  8. ^ When breaking ties for three or more teams under the NFL's rules, they are first broken within divisions, then comparing only the highest ranked remaining team from each division.

Team leaders

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Passing

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Player Att Comp Yds TD INT Rating
Jon Kitna 473 294 3178 16 16 79.1

Rushing

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Player Att Yds YPC Long TD
Corey Dillon 314 1311 4.2 67 7

Receiving

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Player Rec Yds Avg Long TD
Chad Johnson 69 1166 16.9 72 5
Peter Warrick 53 606 11.4 37 6

Defensive

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Player Tackles Sacks INTs FF FR
Takeo Spikes 171 1.5 0 2 4
Justin Smith 67 6.5 0 1 0
Artrell Hawkins 92 2.0 2 1 2
Kevin Kaesviharn 62 0.0 2 1 0

Kicking and punting

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Player FGA FGM FG% XPA XPM XP% Points
Neil Rackers 18 15 83.3% 32 30 93.8% 75
Player Punts Yards Long Blkd Avg.
Nick Harris 65 2608 57 1 40.1

Special teams

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Player KR KRYards KRAvg KRLong KRTD PR PRYards PRAvg PRLong PRTD
Brandon Bennett 49 1231 25.1 94 0 0 0 0.0 0 0
T. J. Houshmandzadeh 13 288 22.2 44 0 24 117 4.9 34 0

Awards and records

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Pro Bowl Selections

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Milestones

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References

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  1. ^ Season statistics and summary at Sports E-Cyclopedia
  2. ^ "2002 Cincinnati Bengals draftees". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved October 16, 2014.
  3. ^ Corey Dilon, RB at NFL
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