How Elite Were They? #53- Boomer Esiason’s 12-win 1988 Season

Photo Credit: NFL

By Zane Miller

After being drafted in the second round of the 1984 NFL Draft by the Cincinnati Bengals, quarterback Boomer Esiason would not see the majority of the snaps in his rookie season, being held out of the starting role by longtime signal caller Ken Anderson. However, with Anderson being 35 years old at this point, Esiason was clearly viewed as the QB of the future by the Bengals front office. In his limited starts, he impressed early with three wins in his four games. Once 1985 rolled around, though, Esiason took on the starting spot for the foreseeable future.

Getting all but two of the starts, Esiason led the Bengals to seven wins, but the team came up short of making the playoffs. He started every game of the 1986 season, throwing 24 touchdowns and nearly 4,000 yards in a strong 10-6 season, but Cincinnati would again lose out on making the postseason. This time, the Bengals were foiled by a four-way tiebreaker between themselves, the New York Jets, Kansas City Chiefs and Seattle Seahawks for the remaining wild card spots, which were taken by the Jets and Chiefs. The Bengals slumped in 1987, as they never found their rhythm after the players’ strike concluded. Esiason only had three wins in his 12 starts, but that was soon to change in 1988.

In the Bengals’ September 4^th season opener against the Phoenix (now Arizona) Cardinals, which also happened to be the Cardinals’ first regular season game after relocating from St. Louis, Esiason started off on the right foot with a three-touchdown performance with 271 passing yards in the process. The Bengals took the win 21-14, touching off an impressive 6-0 start to the year. Among these triumphs came just a week after the opening day victory, as the Bengals faced the Philadelphia Eagles. Esiason arguably had his best game of the season, as he amassed four passing touchdowns and 363 yards, both of which wound up being season highs. He was assisted by an outstanding receiving effort by wide receiver Tim McGee, who hauled in two of the touchdowns for 114 yards. The team needed every bit of the passing offense, as they held off Philadelphia in a 28-24 nailbiter.

Another one of Esiason’s noteworthy performances was not quite as competitive, but no less impressive as the Bengals traveled to the City of Angels to face the Los Angeles (now Las Vegas) Raiders on October 2^nd. The Long Island native threw for a total of three touchdowns and 332 yards with no interceptions, taking care of the Raiders 45-21 after leading 24-7 at halftime. While Cincinnati’s bid at an undefeated season came to an end a couple weeks later, Esiason led the team to a convincing victory over the rival Pittsburgh Steelers on November 6^th. With the Steelers coming in at a paltry 2-7 record, Esiason and company took full advantage, jumping out to a 21-7 lead at halftime. The team played even better in the second half, with the defense pitching a shutout in the final 30 minutes while the offense continued to get the job done. In a game where veteran running back James Brooks rushed for three touchdowns, Esiason still collected three touchdowns of his own to go along with 318 passing yards as the Bengals won in a blowout 42-7.

Although Esiason’s production slowed down a bit in the final two months of the regular season, the Bengals were very much still on the right track going into the playoffs, finishing out the year with a 12-4 record (which remains tied for the most wins in a single season in franchise history). Esiason was the starter for all 16 games during the season, with his 28 touchdown passes tying Miami Dolphins quarterback Dan Marino for second in the league, while his 3,572 passing yards was good enough for fourth. Despite not leading the way in either category, Esiason’s impressive totals, along with the Bengals having the #1-ranked offense in the league, enabled him to take home both first-team All-Pro honors and the MVP award in a tight contest with Eagles quarterback Randall Cunningham, who had an excellent season in his own right. With that, Esiason and the Bengals were set for the postseason and would take on the AFC West-winning Seattle Seahawks in the divisional round.

The Bengals remained at Riverfront Stadium for the December 31^st matchup, where the defense put on a clinic in the first half, forcing two turnovers and a pair of punts. The Bengals offense got down to business as well, with running back Stanley Wilson finding the end zone twice to help the team to a 21-0 halftime advantage. However, the momentum shifted immensely when the teams returned to the field, as the Bengals suddenly found themselves unable to move the ball effectively. Although the defense kept up their end of the bargain in the third quarter, the Seahawks broke through with touchdowns on back-to-back possessions, though a missed extra point meant that the Bengals held onto a two-possession lead with six minutes remaining. This allowed Esiason to hand the ball over to the running game the rest of the way, forcing Seattle to exhaust their timeouts. The Seahawks would eventually get the ball back, but cornerback Eric Thomas would seal the Bengals’ 21-13 victory by breaking up a fourth-down pass attempt. With running back and team legend Ickey Woods contributing 126 rushing yards and a touchdown, Esiason mostly took a backseat with just 108 passing yards and no touchdowns on his seven completions. In contrast, Seahawks quarterback Dave Krieg was forced to attempt 50 passes with the team playing from behind, getting one touchdown and 297 yards through the air with a pair of interceptions.

As 1988 became 1989, the Bengals were able stay at home for the AFC championship matchup against the AFC East champ Buffalo Bills on January 8th. Cincinnati held a slim 14-10 halftime lead, but the defense was able to take it over from there, shutting out the Bills in the second half. Woods added a touchdown run early in the fourth quarter for the only scoring of the second half, finishing the day with two touchdowns and 102 yards as the Bengals punched their ticket to Super Bowl XXIII with a 21-10 win. Despite this, Esiason had another forgettable performance, passing for just 94 yards and one touchdown while giving up two interceptions, though Bills quarterback Jim Kelly also struggled with three interceptions tainting his 163 passing yards and one touchdown.

There would be no room for error on January 22^nd, as the Bengals and the NFC champion San Francisco 49ers headed south for a true neutral site battle in Miami. A defense-dominated first half led to a 3-3 halftime score, but a solid drive from Esiason and the receiving core to open up the third quarter enabled the Bengals to jump out in front thanks to a Jim Breech field goal. The 49ers eventually scored a field goal of their own later in the quarter, but Bengals kick returner Stanford Jennings would close out the frame in exciting fashion as he became just the second player to return a kickoff for a touchdown, running it back up through the middle of the field for a 93-yard score.

The 49ers tied the score once again early in the fourth quarter, but, after a couple possessions by both sides went nowhere, Esiason led a solid drive to retake the lead on a 40-yard field goal by Breech. However, San Francisco still had over three minutes of regulation time left to play, which future Hall of Fame quarterback Joe Montana utilized to near perfection. The 49ers slowly but surely worked their way down the field and Esiason could only watch as Montana threw the eventual game-winning touchdown to wide receiver John Taylor with 34 seconds left. The 49ers held on for the 20-16 win and their third Super Bowl title in franchise history, with Montana claiming a final stat line of two touchdown passes and 357 passing yards with no interceptions. Esiason’s disappointing postseason from a stats perspective continued, managing 144 passing yards with no touchdowns and an interception.

Esiason stayed on as Cincinnati’s starting quarterback for the next handful of seasons, though he would never again reach 12 wins in a season or have another deep playoff run as he had in 1988. He and the team were hit by the Super Bowl hangover in 1989 as they missed the playoffs, but bounced back to earn the AFC Central title in 1990. Notably, Esiason led the Bengals to an impressive 41-14 victory over the Houston Oilers (now Tennessee Titans) in the opening round of the playoffs, as this would be the last playoff victory in franchise history for the next 31 years. Esiason himself would not play in the postseason again for the rest of his career.

In 1991 and 1992, the Bengals began to fall on hard times to put it mildly, finishing last in the AFC Central in both seasons. The poor play along with a strained relationship with team management prompted Esiason to request a trade prior to the 1993 campaign, which was granted as he was picked up by his hometown New York Jets. Despite the new pairing initially working out quite well, production declined sharply in 1994 and 1995 for both Esiason and the Jets in general. After a disastrous ’95 season which saw Esiason miss a few weeks due to a severe concussion on the way to a dead-last 3-13 record for the Jets, Esiason left via free agency. After a brief stint with the now Arizona Cardinals in 1996, he made his return to the Bengals for the 1997 campaign. Initially backing up starter Jeff Blake, Esiason took over after Blake sustained a season-ending injury. Esiason was able to end his Bengals tenure on a high note, winning four of the final five games. He retired at the conclusion of the season, finishing his career with 80 career wins to go along with the MVP award.

It wasn’t long before Esiason was recruited to join the broadcasting ranks, as in both 1998 and 1999 he took on the role of color commentator for ABC’s Monday Night Football. Beginning in 2000, Esiason was color commentator for nationally broadcast games on the Westwood One radio network, a position he would hold through the 2017 season. Simultaneously, he joined NFL on CBS as pre-game show host in 2002, cementing himself as a fixture on the network before stepping away in 2023. Also in 2023, Esiason was selected as a member of the Cincinnati Bengals Ring of Honor.