Bengals break 31 years without winning a PlayOffs game by surpassing Raiders in the NFL

The Cincinnati Bengals snapped a 31-year winless streak in a postseason game by beating the Las Vegas Raiders 26-19 to advance to the next round in the NFL playoff opener.

Cincinnati’s most recent victory at this stage before this Saturday was in 1991, when they outscored the Houston Oilers on two touchdown passes from quarterback Bommer Esiason that year.

This was a matchup between a pair of rookie postseason quarterbacks; Derek Carr, 30 for the Raiders; Joe Barrow, 25, with the Bengals, 2019 winner of the Heisman Trophy given to the best college football player in the US.

Barrow finished the game with 244 receiving yards and two touchdowns; Carr passed for 310 yards and a TD.

The Raiders took the lead with a field goal on their opening drive of the first quarter. And they closed the first half with a delivery from Carr to Zay Jones that sent the game to rest 20-13.

At the start of the third quarter, Cincinnati added three more points, 23-13; and in the last period the score was 26-19 after a field goal from the Bengals and a pair from Las Vegas.

The Raiders tried to tie their last drive with just under two minutes left, already out of timeouts. Carr led his team to the Cincinnati nine-yard line, but failed to reach the end zone.