Bengals Rip Buccaneers, 56-23 : Blowout: Esiason throws five touchdown passes in record-breaking game against Tampa Bay.

Boomer Esiason challenged the Cincinnati Bengals to take their struggling offense to a new level this week.

But he never expected it to set a club record.

Esiason matched his own club record with five touchdown passes Sunday as the Bengals erupted from a two-week scoring slump to beat Tampa Bay, 56-23.

During practice last week, Esiason urged his teammates to step forward and end their offensive slump, which included seven quarters without a touchdown.

“All week long in the huddle I’d been saying, ‘Who wants to make the big play? Who wants to make the big catch? Who wants to make the big block? Who wants to make the big run?’ ” Esiason said. “I think they took it upon themselves to make things happen.”

Esiason threw touchdown passes of one yard to Rodney Holman and eight yards to Eddie Brown in the first half and added three more in the second half to equal his team single-game mark, set in a 52-21 victory over the New York Jets in 1986.

Cincinnati (5-3) got its second-highest point total and set a club record with eight touchdowns. The Bengals’ only better day was in a 61-17 victory over Houston in 1972.

“I don’t think any of us in our wildest dreams expected 50-some points,” Esiason said. “We had a lot of frustration built up the last two weeks, and somebody had to pay for it. Unfortunately today it was Tampa Bay.”

Esiason completed 17 of 28 passes for 197 yards, leading an offense that scored touchdowns on seven of its first nine possessions.

Tampa Bay (3-5) tired against the Bengals’ attack, giving up 42 unanswered points from near the end of the first half until the fourth quarter.

“I don’t know how much you need to say when you get your tail kicked the way we did in all three phases of the game,” Buccaneers Coach Ray Perkins said. “Once it gets out of hand, it starts snowballing on you.”

Esiason stayed in for the Bengals’ first series of the fourth quarter and threw an 18-yard touchdown pass to Brown to equal his club record and put Cincinnati ahead 49-16.

Cincinnati rookie Erik Wilhelm made his NFL debut and threw a 46-yard touchdown pass to Tim McGee for a 56-16 lead--the second-highest number of points allowed by the Buccaneers since they entered the NFL in 1976.

Tampa Bay failed to keep the Bengals out of the end zone on their first seven drives inside the 20. The Buccaneers also also had a rare failure of their run defense--James Brooks ran for 131 yards and a touchdown to become the first back in 21 games to reach 100 yards against Tampa Bay.

Vinny Testaverde threw two first-half touchdown passes, including a 17-yarder to Mark Carrier, as the Buccaneers stayed even with the Bengals.