Cincinnati Bengals

Wednesday, 21 October 2009 - administrator

Franchise History

The Origins
The American Football League granted a franchise to a Cincinnati-based ownership group lead by Paul Brown in 1967. He had decided to name it the Bengals in order to "give it a link with past professional Football in Cincinnati," since another Bengals American Football League existed from 1937-1942. Brown coached the Bengals for the first three years where he had 15 wins and 27 loses. In his third year, Brown took the Bengals to win the AFC Central division title but lost in the playoffs.

1970s
From 1970 – 2000, the Bengals played at Riverfront Stadium until Brown moved the team to Paul Brown Stadium. During the 1970s, the Ravens won their second AFC Central division title.

1980s
In the 1980s, the Bengals went to the Super Bowl twice. The first time was in 1982 at Super Bowl XVI, where they faced the San Francisco 49ers and although the Begals had more total yards in the game, they lost a close game 26-21. In the

1990s
In 1991, founder of the Bengals, Paul Brown died. By then he had already transferred the team to his son Mike Brown, but was still involved in daily operations. With Bengals good fortune would come to an end with Brown’s departure. The Bengals would go on to have 14 non-winning consecutive seasons.

2000 – Present
The Bengals started to slowly emerge from that dismal period when they hired Marvin Lewis as head coach and drafted Carson Palmer in 2003. In 2005, Carson Palmer took the Bengals to their first playoff game since 1990. Palmer endured a serious knee injury during that losing playoff game against the Steelers, but has now made full recovery.

Logos and Uniforms

The Bengals based their uniforms from the Cleveland Browns and had similar orange, brown, and white uniforms from 1968 – 1981. In 1981, they added orange and black tiger strips to their uniforms and helmets. In 1997, they created an alternate logo of a leaping Bengals, but the stripped helmet continues to remain their primary trademark. They added a new strip pattern as well as more accents to the uniforms in 2004.

No Huddle Offense

Usually, a no huddle offense is used when time is running low, however, Sam Wyche, the head Football coach in 1988 made the no huddle offense a standard for the Bengals. No huddle offense prevents the defending team to substitute players, re-strategize and some say increase the rate of fatigue.

Paul Brown Stadium home of the Bengals

Paul Brown Stadium

The Bengals moved to Paul Brown Stadium in 2000. They previously played at the Riverfront Stadium. The current owner, Mike Brown, named the new stadium after his late father and founder of the Bengals, Paul Brown. He turned down corporate offers to sell renaming rights of the stadium.