When was the last time the Bengals won the Super Bowl? When was the last time they won the AFC?

The Cincinnati Bengals just won the AFC Championship game vs the Kansas City Chiefs and are going to the SuperBowl for the first time since the 1988 season.

Reem AbdalazemUpdate: Jan 30th, 2022 22:10 EST

Jay BiggerstaffUSA TODAY Sports

Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals are going back to the Super Bowl for the first time in the last 33 years after defeating the Kansas City Chiefs in a thrilling AFC Championship Game with a 27-24 overtime win. 

The Bengals were barely on the radar coming into the season, after a 4-11-1 season that saw the future of the franchise’s season cut short when Burrow was carted off the field with a torn ACL against Washington in Week 11, and tight end C.J. Uzomah was getting back from a season-ending injury. 

Burrow, however, reignited a flame this season that has been blown out for decades by bringing Cincinnati back to the playoffs and to the Super Bowl for the first time in 33 years.

When was the last time the Bengals made the Super Bowl?

While the Bengals made the playoffs seven times between 2005 and 2015, they fell in the Wild Card round each time, making their last Super Bowl appearance in 1988 against the San Francisco 49ers. Cincinnati took down the Seattle Seahawks and Buffalo Bills as they headed to the Big Game, but could not handle the 49ers.

Bengals’ Super Bowl history with the 49ers

Seven years before their 1988 appearance at the Super Bowl, the Bengals had made their first Super Bowl in franchise history after earning the top seed in 1981, beating the Bills in the Divisional Round, and then the Chargers the week after. But they would go on to fall to the San Francisco 49ers in the Super Bowl two weeks later.