Dumb Decisions: The STUPIDEST Punt in Bengals HISTORY | Bengals @ Steelers (2001)

During week 4 of the 2001 NFL season, the Cincinnati Bengals trailed the Pittsburgh Steelers 16-7 with 90 seconds left and no timeouts. Faced with fourth down, you'd think that the Bengals would go for it in this situation, seeing as if the Steelers touch the ball again, the Bengals lose the game. However, that's where you'd be mistaken
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[@MarkVrem]

In some alternate fantasy universe. The punter takes matters into his own hands. Tells a receiver to get open. Delivers a perfect pass. Replaces Kitna as the QB for rest of season

[@CTubeMan]

Or taken a Safety, then recover the free kick. Then…well, you know the rest.

[@O4C209]

That's what happens when you trust your special teams to get a turnover more than your QB completing a pass.

[@isaacscanlon2182]

Maybe Lebeau had his QBs throw so many interceptions hoping the defender would pull a Marlon McCree 😂😂

[@DamonNomad82]

1:41 Kris Brown, now there's a name I hadn't heard in a LONG time! I lived in Lincoln during the mid to late1990s, and Brown was Nebraska's starting kicker from 1995 to 1998, prior to being drafted by the Steelers.

[@toddbiesel4288]

And as far as we know, this Kris Brown didn't have domestic violence issues.

[@andrewgrove1691]

He left for houston

[@anthonyrivera4735]

The Bengals even started the 2001 season 4-3 at one point, but lost seven of their last nine games.

[@chrisuncleahmad]

Still one of their less terrible seasons amidst that bad era of Bengals football (they beat 3 playoff teams, including the Steelers rematch)

[@lonewolfjedi493osswfan]

One of the many reasons why they were called The Bungles

[@WVUer21]

Peak Bungles Era

[@Jiggs316]

Even the Madden AI would go for it

[@marcus813]

No wonder Dick LeBeau failed as a head coach. He was one of the NFL's brightest minds, but that was as a defensive coordinator, not as a head coach.

[@hankarmas]

Peak Bungles football.

[@andrewpadaetz5549]

Even JG9 agreed at 17:25.

[@marcusmcgraw3519]

Let’s be honest, this isn’t a real dumb decisions video. This is the team waving the white flag

[@jessesarmiento1433]

I didn't think it was that bad either

[@RurbanWalker]

This exact scenario happened in CFB's 1999 Kick-off classic. Miami was leading Ohio State by 11 with 2+ minutes remaining in the game. OSU had the ball and was facing 4th down (2:12 on clock I believe), and Jon Cooper punts. No fake, just regular punt like this one. Other than some confusion communicated by those of us watching live in the stands, I never heard any aftermath from it though.

[@thomascrowley9122]

You could make a entire series of the dumb decisions. About the 90s and early 2000s Bengals.

[@jewell2j]

Lol the Bungals are still making bad decisions…

[@joncampbelloverhere]

This is just straight up admitting defeat. At least they got mercy 😂

[@mrmoose6619]

A true Dumb Decision that goes down in the annals of NFL history where we would definitely be smarter than one of the 31 (at the time) supposed top minds in football. Thanks much.

[@randytracy1742]

The bengals bungled that much in 2001! 😊😊😊😊😊

[@mjwatts1983]

3:29 To answer your question: Because Bungles, that is why

[@rngfootball759]

Lebeau was not made to be head coach. You have a wr room with Darnay, Warrick and two rookies who will soon be impact players (housh and Ochocinco) and Dillon as rb. That should be a good offense but it was hampered by bad qb play. Probably worst qb room in the league that year besides Carolina. And that was the year they beat my Pats in week 1. Bledsoe was the qb that day with some guy wearing 12 backing up. Expectations were not high coming into that season.

[@mjwatts1983]

What became of NE QB#12?

[@CTubeMan]

This unofficial Official Jaguar Gator 9 historian will remind everyone you made a video about a Lions-Packers game in 1977 which featured the Lions arguably doing something dumberer from punt formation.

[@AdamJ617]

11:36.

[@pghtile8069]

Although the Peter Principle is on full display in this situation he was famous and beloved here in Yinzertown. Obviously he was a defensive coaching stalwart and each and every year he would read to many, if not most of the players, ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas. I promise that it was extremely well received by both the team and media. Team members perhaps because some, I SAID SOME, may have not had a paternal role model that read to them as children. The media because he was obviously responsible for a solid defensive unit every year. QED

[@daltonhigbee6343]

These dumb decisions by coaches are worse than if you did nothing but spike the ball into the ground on every single play.

[@Modelmoth]

Lol. You remind me of how an old friend used to talk about stuff like this.

[@DarkcIoud1111.]

As dumb as it sounds, I do kind of understand the reasoning. However if the plan was to punt the ball, hope the Steelers drop it, and recover the ball in a better position 40-60 yards down the field, I don't understand why he didn't just order a pass deep down the field.

[@CTubeMan]

When Kevin Kelly coached at Pulaski Academy he’d have his team run off the field once their opponent punted and not attempt to field the ball. The Steelers would have been smarter had they done that.

[@FlintGiven]

Well the best case scenario besides throwing a td would of been a punt and then a fumble/muff.

[@dalegribble1560]

Maybe they were hoping for a muffed punt? lol

[@chrisuncleahmad]

Even with that dumb decision, 2001 was still a rare not so terrible seasons amidst that bad era of Bengals football; 6 wins (after back to back 4 win seasons) and beat 3 playoff teams

[@e93sports80]

Those three playoff teams were the Ravens, Steelers, and... The Patriots.

[@mjwatts1983]

@@e93sports80Eventual Super Bowl champion Patriots

[@EdBurke37]

Always play to your outs Edit: realistic outs, not whatever Dick was thinking about

[@wendydelisse9778]

From a clock management point of view, the clock stops in the case of a muffed catch of a punt that is recovered by the kicking team, until the ball is snapped to begin the next play. A lot of times, in the case of a pass reception, the clock starts running before the ball is snapped. Regardless of the decision on whether to pass on 4th down or punt on 4th down, the odds were very low that the Bengals would win the game. The quarterback was having a bad "4 and out" type of failed drive, with 3 out of 3 passes being incomplete. Either way, the Bengals had about a 1% chance of winning. The passing game had been so "not there" that punting gave about equal odds, as well as lessening the chance that the Steelers would run up the score for end of season tiebreaker reasons. With the Bengals needing two scores to win, with at least one of the two scores having to be a touchdown, there would have been little risk for the Steelers with 80 seconds left to try 4 runs up the middle in an I-formation with 2 tight ends if the Bengals got an incomplete pass on 4th down to give the Steelers a 1st down with excellent field position. The bonus for the Steelers is that the Bengals defense would be even more tired from the Steelers game before the Bengals played their next game. Taking a knee lets the opposing defense go into the next game a little bit less tired, giving the opposing team that little bit of an extra chance of winning their next game than if they have to work hard to stop 3 or 4 consecutive running plays in order to stop the score from being run up for end of season tiebreaker reasons. In same-conference games, and even more so in same-division games like the Bengals versus Steelers game, end of season tiebreaker thinking carries a little bit more weight. Short version: In a same-division game 2 scores behind with a 4th and 10 and the passing game almost not functional, even with only 90 seconds remaining in game time, calling for the punt actually made sense.

[@jasonnelson6624]

Preserve the spread.

[@ericradford2142]

This was on the same day the United States bombed Afghanistan.

[@user-go3rc3fy4i]

Yep and the first 4 or so minutes of the game got interrupted for coverage of it

[@ericradford2142]

@@user-go3rc3fy4i I remember that. 2001 was a very sad year for our country and sports thanks to 9/11.

[@Official_Kings_Versus]

Definitely...@@ericradford2142

[@kevinsealschott1090]

I was at this game They announced the bombing on the Jumbotron at halftime and W's speech

[@ericradford2142]

@@kevinsealschott1090 I was surprised Steelers fans were at the game in spite of the bombing in Afghanistan

[@guttmana9767]

Yeah....with onside kicks being more common to be recovered back then, WHY DID YOU PUNT THE BALL??

[@jackmessick2869]

It's called just giving up. Not good for your leadership.

[@briannearey8902]

Also one of the worst punts I've ever seen

[@Thewordofgod4040]

This punt is the STUPIDEST decision I’ve ever seen in professional football. It has to be in the top ten worst moments in Bengals’ history. Even if you can’t get in the end zone twice, there’s no reason to just lay down and die. If the Steelers get the ball, you lose. You have to go for it. Instead, you let one of the worst teams in the league get the ball for free with plenty of time to score. I don’t understand this at all.

[@benjaminbrown1620]

Low key the steelers putting a guy back to field the punt was a dumb decision. There was no reason to have anyone within 30 yards of the ball once its punted.

[@RurbanWalker]

I would put the returner back there and tell him to run out of bounds as soon as the punt is in the air. If you put nobody back to return at all, it might have awoke Lebeau out of his stupor and they audibled to go for it on 4th down.

[@RurbanWalker]

Regarding the post-game press conference, was Lebeau better off giving the absurd justification he gave vs just admitting he just had a brain lapse? Believe it or not, I think he was better off giving the illogical reasoning he gave as I think an honest admission that he was just lost at that moment would have resulted in an immediate firing.

[@sparklerbc9898]

fight til the death when theres still a .00000001% chance of victory is just not something that was done in the NFL 20 years ago

[@jrfourr]

Not as bad as 4 and 10 screen pass

[@michaeldonnan6767]

To be honest it's not a horrible decision. Their chances were less than 1% at that point. Hoping for a fumbled punt to get a significant change in field position might as well be part of the fantasy as well. That said, how do you stretch this into a 20 minute video? If you want to have a successful channel you need to respect your viewers time a little bit.

[@patrickt6642]

Why they punted .Coach gave up

[@MarylandTerps]

1st

[@kyleswiz9012]

scripted?