| Team: | Cincinnati Bengals |
| Year: | 1990 |
| Record: | 9–7 |
| Division Place: | 1st AFC Central |
| Coach: | Sam Wyche |
| General Manager: | Paul Brown |
| Stadium: | Riverfront Stadium |
| Playoffs: | Won Wild Card Playoffs (vs. Oilers) 41–14 Lost Divisional Playoffs (at Raiders) 10–20 |
| Pro Bowlers: | T Anthony Muñoz TE Rodney Holman RB James Brooks SS David Fulcher |
| Shortnavlink: | Bengals seasons |
The 1990 Cincinnati Bengals season was the franchise's 23rd year in professional football and its 21st with the National Football League (NFL). The Bengals won the AFC Central division for the second time in three seasons.
The Bengals would finish the season 9–7 and make the playoffs. In the postseason, Cincinnati won over the Houston Oilers in the wild-card round 41–14, but lost to the Los Angeles Raiders 20–10 in the divisional round. The Bengals would not make the playoffs again until the 2005 season and would not win a playoff game again until their Super Bowl-appearing 2021 season beginning what eventually became an 8-game playoff losing streak, tied with the Detroit Lions for longest in NFL history.
See main article: 1990 NFL draft. [1]
| Week | Date | Opponent | Result | Record | Venue | Recap | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | September 9 | W 25–20 | 1–0 | Riverfront Stadium | Recap | ||
| 2 | September 16 | W 21–16 | 2–0 | Jack Murphy Stadium | Recap | ||
| 3 | September 23 | W 41–7 | 3–0 | Riverfront Stadium | Recap | ||
| 4 | L 16–31 | 3–1 | Kingdome | Recap | |||
| 5 | October 7 | W 34–31 | 4–1 | Anaheim Stadium | Recap | ||
| 6 | October 14 | at Houston Oilers | L 17–48 | 4–2 | Astrodome | Recap | |
| 7 | at Cleveland Browns | W 34–13 | 5–2 | Cleveland Stadium | Recap | ||
| 8 | October 28 | L 17–38 | 5–3 | Atlanta–Fulton County Stadium | Recap | ||
| 9 | November 4 | L 7–21 | 5–4 | Riverfront Stadium | Recap | ||
| 10 | Bye | ||||||
| 11 | November 18 | Pittsburgh Steelers | W 27–3 | 6–4 | Riverfront Stadium | Recap | |
| 12 | November 25 | L 20–34 | 6–5 | Riverfront Stadium | Recap | ||
| 13 | December 2 | at Pittsburgh Steelers | W 16–12 | 7–5 | Three Rivers Stadium | Recap | |
| 14 | December 9 | L 17–20 | 7–6 | Riverfront Stadium | Recap | ||
| 15 | December 16 | L 7–24 | 7–7 | Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum | Recap | ||
| 16 | December 23 | Houston Oilers | W 40–20 | 8–7 | Riverfront Stadium | Recap | |
| 17 | December 30 | Cleveland Browns | W 21–14 | 9–7 | Riverfront Stadium | Recap | |
See main article: 1990–91 NFL playoffs.
| Week | Date | Opponent (seed) | Result | Record | Venue | Venue | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wildcard | January 6, 1991 | Houston Oilers (6) | W 41–14 | 1–0 | Riverfront Stadium | 60,012 | |
| Divisional | January 13, 1991 | at Los Angeles Raiders (2) | L 10–20 | 1–1 | Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum | 92,045 |
| Player | Att | Comp | Yds | TD | INT | Rating |
| 402 | 224 | 3031 | 24 | 22 | 77.0 | |
| Player | Att | Yds | YPC | Long | TD | |
| 195 | 1004 | 5.1 | 56 | 5 | ||
| 64 | 268 | 4.2 | 32 | 6 |
| Player | Rec | Yds | Avg | Long | TD |
| 44 | 706 | 16.0 | 50 | 9 | |
| Player | Tackles | Sacks | INTs | FF | FR | |
| 76 | 8.0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | ||
| 57 | 2.0 | 4 | 0 | 1 |
| Player | FGA | FGM | FG% | XPA | XPM | XP% | Points | |
| 21 | 17 | 81.0% | 44 | 41 | 93.2% | 92 |
| Player | Punts | Yards | Long | Blkd | Avg. |
| 64 | 2705 | 70 | 0 | 42.3 | |
| Player | KR | KRYards | KRAvg | KRLong | KRTD | PR | PRYards | PRAvg | PRLong | PRTD | |
| 29 | 584 | 20.1 | 33 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 10 | 191 | 19.1 | 33 | 0 | 29 | 251 | 8.7 | 66 | 1 |