The 1981 Cincinnati Bengals season was the team’s 14th year in professional football and its 12th with the National Football League (NFL)…as the team won their first AFC Championship….but lost Super Bowl XVI to San Francisco. Cincinnati had at least a share of the AFC Central lead the entire season…..when on December 13, QB Ken Anderson threw two touchdown passes….as the Bengals clinched the division with a 17–10 win over the Steelers….when Ken Anderson led the NFL in passing during1981 with a 98.5 rating.
On January 3, 1982….the Bengals beat Buffalo, 28–21, in an AFC Divisional Playoff game….then a week later while playing in their first AFC Championship Game….the Bengals defeated the San Diego Chargers by a score of 27–7 at Riverfront Stadium in a temperature of 9 degrees below zero….with a wind-chill factor of minus-59…..as this game is referred to as the Freezer Bowl.….visa vie the title of this video herewith as The Bengals Who Came In From The Cold.
In Super Bowl XVI on January 24, 1982, in Pontiac, Michigan, the Bengals trailed 20–0 at halftime and lost to San Francisco, 26–21…..as the game was played at the Pontiac Silverdome in a suburb of Detroit. It marked the first time that a Super Bowl was held at a cold-weather city. The domed stadium saved the crowd at the game from the very cold and snowy weather, but the weather did affect traffic and other logistical issues related to the game. Super Bowl XVI also became one of the most watched broadcasts in American television history….with more than 85 million viewers….and a final national Nielsen rating of 49.1 (a 73 share). Cincinnati’s 356 yards of total offense to San Francisco’s 275 marked the first time in Super Bowl history that the team which was outgained in total yards won.
Simply put, this 1981 Cincinnati Bengals team was quite possibly the best Bengal team ever….which provides ample reason for seeing this video.
