The 1972 Cincinnati Bengals season was the team's fifth year in professional football and the third with the National Football League (NFL). Starting off the 1972 season winning five of seven games, this looked to be the Bengals break out year, that was until the away game at Pittsburgh, the Bengals suffered a devastating 40–17 loss, then coupled with two fairly close loses at home against Oakland (20–14) and Baltimore 20–19, the 1971 season was in a tail spin. Paul Brown gave his rookie quarterback Ken Anderson the starting job, winning three out of the last four games giving the Bengals an overall 8–6 season, but not good enough for the playoffs once again. Three times in their history, the Bengals have won without scoring a touchdown, including September 24, 1972, when kicker Horst Muhl