For the first time since 1992, the Bengals sold out all games before the season began, and a waiting list was established for new season ticket buyers. The regular-season attendance mark was 527,870, for an average of 65,984, and both the total and the averages stand through 2017 as club records. Also prior to the season, it was also announced that head coach Marvin Lewis had signed a contract extension through 2010. Lewis completed his fourth season by joining Paul Brown as the only Bengals head coaches to go four straight seasons without a losing record, but though the team remained in contention until the final weekend, it missed the '06 playoffs with an 8-8 mark. The Bengals lost their last three games after standing 8-5. A win in either of the two final games could have secured a playoff berth, but Cincinnati lost 24-23 in Game 15 at Denver when an errant PAT snap foiled a chance to force overtime, and the Bengals lost the season finale in overtime vs. Pittsburgh, after record-setting K Shayne Graham missed a 39-yard FG try on the final play of regulation. QB Carson Palmer, sidelined with a major knee injury in the 2005 postseason, made good on his bid to play the full 2006 regular season, starting every game. He set a club record to that point with 4035 passing yards, and he boldfaced his status as the cornerstone of the roster by winning the Most Valuable Player Award in the Pro Bowl on Feb. 10, 2007. He stands through 2017 as the only Bengal to win the award. The season was a particularly notable one for flamboyant WR Chad Johnson. In March, NFL owners voted to clamp down on player end-zone celebrations, an art that Johnson had been increasingly expanding in production value. In April, Johnson was signed to a contract extension through 2011. He was featured on a Sports Illustrated cover in October, and for the season he became the only Bengal (through 2017) to lead the NFL in receiving yards, with 1369. Johnson set a still-standing Bengals record for receiving yards in a game, with 260 on Nov. 12 vs. San Diego, and with 190 the next week at New Orleans, he set an NFL record at the time for receiving yards in consecutive games (450). Also in '06, Johnson became the only player to lead the AFC or NFC in receiving yards for a fourth consecutive season. No other player has done it since (through 2017). In February, federal judge S. Arthur Spiegel dismissed a Hamilton County lawsuit against the Bengals regarding the Paul Brown Stadium lease, ending two years of legal disputes. In March, the Bengals and Buffalo Bills were the only NFL teams to vote against a new Collective Bargaining Agreement with the players, deeming it unsound, and as time would pass, numerous owners and analysts would in hindsight praise the Cincinnati-Buffalo stance. The 2006 agreement, in some views, ultimately led to the conditions that caused a lockout of players from March through July of 2011. The Bengals in '06 were among a number of teams responding to concerns about rowdy fan behavior at NFL games. The club installed and staffed a "Jerk Line" that fans could call during games to report problems. LB David Pollack, Cincinnati's top draft choice in 2005, suffered what would prove to be a career-ending neck fracture in the home opener vs. Cleveland. Pollack was never paralyzed and made a full recovery, but after some consideration of a comeback, he ultimately decided against it and moved into a successful career as a sports broadcaster.
