On October 30, 2016, the Cincinnati Bengals and Washington played 75 minutes of football at Wembley Stadium and walked off level at 27-27. Washington kicker Dustin Hopkins had a 34-yard field goal to win it with 2:13 left in overtime and pulled it wide left. Then Andy Dalton fumbled the ball away, and Kirk Cousins’ last heave fell harmlessly. In a city raised on football that can end in a draw, the league produced the first overtime game of its international series, and the first tie it had ever played abroad.
It was also the second tie of the 2016 season, coming one week after Seattle and Arizona finished 6-6. The NFL had not had two ties in one season since 1997.
Three lead changes in regulation
The listed home team was Cincinnati, but Washington controlled the first half. Rookie Robert Kelley scored on a 4-yard run on the opening drive, Giovani Bernard answered with an 8-yard run, and a 20-yard Hopkins field goal gave Washington a 10-7 lead at the break. Washington outgained the Bengals 226 yards to 82 before halftime, and Hopkins also came up short on a 55-yard try.
The third quarter swung the other way. Tyler Eifert caught a 15-yard touchdown pass from Dalton, though Mike Nugent missed the extra point, and Dalton ran in from the 1 to make it 20-10. Cousins then found Jordan Reed for 23 yards and Jamison Crowder for 33 yards, and Washington led 24-20 with 9:30 to play. Jeremy Hill’s 1-yard run put Cincinnati back in front 27-24 with 6:54 left. Hopkins tied it from 40 yards with 1:07 remaining.
| Team | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | OT | Final |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Washington | 7 | 3 | 7 | 10 | 0 | 27 |
| Cincinnati | 7 | 0 | 13 | 7 | 0 | 27 |
How overtime slipped away from both teams
Overtime was still 15 minutes long in 2016. Cincinnati reached the Washington 40 on its first series before a sack forced a punt, and Washington got to the Bengals 45 before two straight incompletions did the same. Washington then went from its own 22 all the way to the Cincinnati 16, where Cousins took a knee with 2:13 left to set up the kick.
Hopkins actually put his first attempt through, but it did not count: Cincinnati had stopped the clock a split second earlier. The snap on the retry came in a little high, Tress Way got it down, and the kick curled left of the upright. “Bottom line is I didn’t hit the one I needed to,” Hopkins said afterward.
Cincinnati gave the chance right back. On third-and-1 from its own 47, Dalton tried a quarterback sneak, and defensive lineman Chris Baker stripped the ball. Washington took over with 1:11 left but could not get into range, and Cousins’ final throw went nowhere near the end zone.
458 passing yards and no winner
Cousins completed 38 of 56 passes for 458 yards, with two touchdowns and an interception, and Washington piled up 546 total yards, the most Cincinnati allowed all season. Crowder caught nine passes for 107 yards, Reed had nine for 99 and Vernon Davis five for 93. Kelley ran 21 times for 87 yards.
For Cincinnati, Dalton went 27 of 42 for 284 yards with a touchdown and an interception. A. J. Green caught nine passes for 121 yards, Eifert added nine for 109, and Hill ran 20 times for 76 yards. “We had so many opportunities in this one that could allow us to win the game,” Dalton said.
What the tie led to
Washington left London at 4-3-1 and finished 8-7-1, out of the playoffs. The Bengals went into their bye at 3-4-1 and finished 6-9-1. The two ties within eight days fed a debate about long overtimes, and in May 2017 the owners voted to shorten the extra period in the regular season to 10 minutes, calling it a player-safety step. That shorter period is still in place, as our overtime guide explains.
Ten years later, the international games keep growing. This Sunday the Steelers and Saints meet at the Stade de France in the league’s first regular-season game in Paris.
Related WhyNFL reading: October 23, 2016: Seattle and Arizona tie 6-6 and October 28, 2007: the first regular-season game in Europe.
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