For the first three months of the NFL season, he refused to watch games on Sundays because he wasn’t able to be part of a moment just like this one.

“It was pretty simple,” Josh Brown said. “I didn’t want to enjoy what was going on unless I was involved in it.”

This fall was the first time in 10 seasons as an NFL placekicker that Brown was not on the field come game days. As part of a salary dump, Brown — whose five-year, $14.2 million deal had made him the highest paid kicker in the league — had been cut by the St. Louis Rams in April.

The New York Jets signed him a month later, then released him in August when they decided to stick with their regular kicker. The Washington Redskins brought him in for a tryout, then decided to go with youth instead.

And that left Brown back in Seattle caring for his three kids while his wife ran a business there.

“I was Mr. Mom,” he said. “I drove the kids to school, did stuff at home and every Tuesday, Friday and Sunday I went out and kicked on high school fields and in parks. I looked at it as a job. I went out and worked in the rain, the snow and wind. I wanted to be prepared if I got a call in Week 12 or 13 or whenever.

“Besides, I didn’t want to just lay on the couch and watch. I wanted to play. I wanted to be able to be part of it all again.”

And he was a huge part Sunday as he kicked the Cincinnati Bengals into the playoffs with a 43-yard field goal with four seconds left, toppling the Pittsburgh Steelers, 13-10, at Heinz Field.

The 9-6 Bengals are now assured an AFC wild card spot.

This is the first time they have earned back-to-back playoff bids in 30 years. In the process, they finally stepped out of the shadow of the Steelers — a team that had beaten them five times straight and 10 of the past 12 games they played.

Sunday’s loss dropped Pittsburgh to 7-8 and knocked them out of playoff contention this year.

For Brown, derailing the Steelers, brought some personal pleasure as well.

“Quite honestly, it’s very satisfying,” he said. “I’ve had a bad run versus Pittsburgh. I had a bad game here last year with the Rams. We lost big (27-0) and I missed from 52 and 33 yards. It was just one of the nightmare kind of games, so I really needed to exorcise some demons today.”

In the process he got some revenge.

He was the Seattle kicker when the Seahawks lost to Pittsburgh in Super Bowl XL.

“That was possibly my only chance to win a Super Bowl,” he said. “So I guess I’ve carried a small chip on my shoulder for what, five or six years? I mean that’s why we play the game — to win the Super Bowl. So today — helping knock them out of the playoffs and kind of make them grit their teeth — well that was OK with me.”

For much of Sunday’s game it looked as if the Bengals wanted to give this one away. After building a quick 10-0 lead, they never scored again until Brown’s kick.

In between, quarterback Andy Dalton was intercepted twice, A. J. Green lost a fumble, Cincinnati managed to rush for only 14 yards the entire game and Coach Marvin Lewis made a couple of questionable calls, including a late decision to have Brown try a 56-yard field goal with 3:22 left.

Rushed onto the field, Brown lost his footing in his approach and his kick came up way short.

It was his first miss in seven attempts since getting the early-December call from the Bengals to try out for the job — along with two other out-of-work veterans, Neil Rackers and Billy Cundiff — after regular kicker Mike Nugent was sidelined with a calf strain.

That Brown has filled in admirably isn’t as surprising as it might seem, even with the 12 weeks of inactivity. He’s kicked numerous long field goals to win games in the past and his rookie season with Seattle he hit a 58-yarder.

When it came to Sunday’s game-clincher — after Reggie Nelson picked off Ben Roethlisberger pass with just 14 seconds left and then Dalton and Green connected for a 21-yard pass to put Cincinnati in range — Brown said he knew to play the wind, which was blowing right to left.

“I aimed it right inside the right upright and the wind took it right down the middle — just like we planned. After that it was pure joy,” he said.

“I’ve got to say, it’s unbelievable to be the last guy standing on the field, to be the one who puts the final couple of points on the board and the nail in the other team’s coffin.

“It’s every kid’s dream to do something like that, whether it’s throwing a pass, making a big tackle or kicking a field goal,” he continued. “And to be able to do it for this team is really special. There is a lot of chemistry here. There are a lot of good guys. That’s something you don’t know about until you’re in it.

“Before the end of my first day with them, they were cheering me in practice. That doesn’t happen everywhere you go, but these guys got into it. They called me by my first name, not ‘New Guy’ or ‘Hey, you.’

“To get them into the playoffs — whether I’m part of it or not — is a good feeling. I know if Mike feels good this week and comes back I might have to sit down. What can I do? I took the opportunity I was given and made the most of it. That was the point. If other people see value in me, it was a successful run.”

In the meantime, nothing beat the scene after he made the game-winner.

“Guys were saying ‘Thank you, thank you,’ ” he said. “They said ‘Merry Christmas.’… and ‘You’re solid’… and ‘Way to go vet, way to go.’ ”

As he softly repeated their praises while standing in the post-game locker room, he suddenly became quiet … and just smiled.

This was the feeling he was holding out for in those early days of fall.