 AFC Wild-Card Round

The Bengals began to emerge from more than a decade of being the worst-performing team of that era (edging out the Cardinals) into a new era of increased consistency under Marvin Lewis, after the team finished with its worst record in history in 2002 with a 2–14 record.Carson Palmer, the future star quarterback, was drafted in 2003 but did not play a snap that whole season, as Jon Kitna had a comeback year (voted NFL Comeback Player of the Year).Despite Kitna's success, Carson was promoted to starting quarterback the following season and Kitna, apparently happily, took the position of backup quarterback and embraced the role of mentor for the young quarterback.