Bills Accept Gift from Bengals

Chad Johnson set a merry mood, pulling championship T-shirts, caps and footballs out of his Santa bag and flinging them into the stands after his first-half touchdown.

Then, the Cincinnati Bengals got really generous.

Playing as a division champion for the first time in 15 years, the Bengals let a game and a first-round playoff bye get away Saturday. Terrence McGee returned a kickoff and an interception for a touchdown, rallying the Buffalo Bills to a 37-27 victory.

McGee is the first player in NFL history to do that in one game.

McGee’s 46-yard interception return with 35 seconds left sent 65,485 fans filing glumly out of the stadium in their orange-and-black Santa hats, stunned by what they’d just seen.

For the first time all season, the Bengals (11-4) lost a game they were expected to win, against a team that hadn’t won on the road all season. They needed a win to keep pace with Denver for the AFC’s No. 2 seeding and a first-round playoff bye. Instead, the Broncos clinched it with a 22-3 victory over Oakland.

“Oh, well. Can’t be great all the time,” receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh said.

The Bengals clinched the AFC North title a week earlier in Detroit and wished for an afternoon of revelry in front of the home crowd. Instead, they got a reminder of what can happen when they let a game turn into a shootout.

“We need to truly learn from this, and know what playing like this can get us,” offensive guard Bobbie Williams said. “It can get you an ‘L,’ and when you get to the playoffs, getting an ‘L’ means you’re out of it.”

The Bills (5-10) had lost their previous five games. McGee and quarterback Kelly Holcomb led them to a feel-good win at the end of a disastrous season.

“Nobody gave us a chance to beat these guys,” said Holcomb, who was 24 for 31 for 308 yards. “We hadn’t won on the road. It definitely leaves a good taste in your mouth.”

McGee had five kickoff returns for 220 yards, including his 99-yard sprint down the left sideline that sparked the comeback late in the third quarter. He set a club record with three kickoff touchdowns last season, and now owns the Bills’ career mark.

“I can’t even explain how I feel,” said McGee, who failed to score on an 82-yard return earlier in the season. “All year, the only thing we’ve been missing is a touchdown.”

Filling in a second straight week for injured J.P. Losman, Holcomb became the first Bills’ quarterback to throw for 300 yards in the last 45 games, ending a drought that started after Drew Bledsoe passed for 314 early in the 2003 season.

McGee clinched it by picking off Carson Palmer’s sideline pass. Palmer, going to the Pro Bowl in only his second season as a starter, was 25 for 36 for 266 yards with two interceptions.

“I was just trying to get the ball out of bounds and stop the clock,” Palmer said. “He made a good play on the ball. I should have thrown it over his head and into the stands.”