The Cincinnati Bengals entered professional football ahead of the 1968 AFL season. This helped the AFL meet the criteria of the historic AFL-NFL merger of 1970 as The Bengals were the 10th team. Initially, the franchise hosted opposition football teams at the Nippert Stadium.
In 1970, the team moved its base and remained at the Riverfront Stadium for the better part of 3 decades. During their time in the NFL, Cincinnati Bengals featured as part of the AFC’s Central division.
Following the NFL’s last expansion in 2002, the Bengals moved to the AFC North division. They play alongside the Baltimore Ravens, Pittsburgh Steelers, and state rivals the Cleveland Browns.
The 2020 campaign was a marginal success as they finished off with a 4-11-1 record and finished 4th in the AFC North. This was an improvement from their 2-14 record 2019, but elimination from play-off contention came for the 5th consecutive year.
The Cincinnati Bengals are owned by Mike Brown, son of Founder/Owner and first Head Coach Paul Brown. Mike settled in at the helm of the Cincinnati Bengals in the 1991 NFL season and serves as the President and General Manager too.
In 2008, Brown and the Bengals donated $250,000 to assist the Cincinnati Park Board in paying for Cincinnati Riverfront Park. In 2017, Brown and his family received the Pillar Award for Community Services’ Kent Clapp CEO Leadership Award. The award recognizes a top executive for his or her passion for philanthropy and honors the late Kent Clapp.
The Bengals could not put an exclamation on the NFL or their division. Nevertheless, the franchise has tasted success, albeit sporadically. Cincinnati Bengals have won the AFC Central division 5 times in 32 years. Following the expansion, they claimed the AFC North title in 2005 to end a 15-year divisional drought.
Further titles came in 2009, 2013, and 2015. However, none of these resulted in deep playoff runs akin to their AFC Championship wins for the 1981 and 1988 NFL seasons. Unfortunately, they fell in both Super Bowl appearances to the San Francisco 49ers.
The Cincinnati Bengals have had a number of logos on their crest since their inception. Initially, in the AFC days, the franchise logo was one of a tiger running with a football as its helmet fell off.
In their 3rd season, the Cincinnati Bengals logo featured a football helmet with the moniker ‘Bengals’ written on it in black.
The signature identification of the Bengal tiger returned in the 80s as the franchise opted to switch things up. They changed the helmet grill to black, tweaked the angle, and adorned the helmet with black stripes.
The stripe pattern changed in the 90s, and so did the grill. However, this too didn’t last long as the Cincinnati Bengals had the face of a Bengal tiger as their logo from the 1997 to the 2003 NFL season.
The Bengals’ current logo has been the one in use for the longest period. Introduced ahead of the 2004 NFL season, the franchise still turns up for football games with a ‘B’ crest. This is an orange logo with black stripes that can signify the claws of the tiger.
From 2011 to 2015, the Cincinnati Bengals set a franchise record as they reached the NFL Playoffs in 5 consecutive seasons. Their previous best came with back-to-back postseason appearances in 1981 and 1982.
The streak coincided with the arrival of second-round pick Andy Dalton. Unfortunately, the franchise is yet to match their AFC Championship winning run.
In 2020, the franchise won the top draft pick as they had the worst record in the 2019 NFL season. The side roped in LSU Tigers’ Heisman Trophy winner Joe Burrow. Subsequently, the club parted ways with Andy Dalton to guarantee Burrow’s spot as the starting quarterback.
READ MORE- Andy Dalton Let Go From the Cincinnati Bengals
Fifth Third Bank, National Association announced a multi-year agreement to renew its sponsorship of the Cincinnati Bengals in October 2020. The partnership will include signage at Paul Brown Stadium, a new presenting sponsor of the Bengals mobile app. Moreover, there’s a discount at the online pro shop for Bengals banking customers, virtual fan experiences including contests on social media.
BlaCk OWned outerwear came in with a deal and campaign aims to unify the Cincinnati community through designs intended to create a healthy dialogue, represented by the partnership. The Bengals included Vonn Bell, Giovani Bernard, Tyler Boyd, Sam Hubbard, Khalid Kareem, C. J. Uzomah, and Shawn Williams.
The Cincinnati Bengals have a 53-player roster for the 2020 NFL season. This consists of 2 quarterbacks, 4 running backs, 7 wide receivers, 3 tight ends, 8 offensive linemen, 10 defensive linemen, 6 linebackers, 9 defensive backs, and 4 special team players.
| Quarterbacks | 8. Brandon Allen 5. Ryan Finley |
| Running Backs | 25. Giovani Bernard 82. Cethan Carter FB 34. Samaje Perine 32. Trayveon Williams |
| Wide Receivers | 83. Tyler Boyd 12. Alex Erickson 18. A. J. Green 85. Tee Higgins 17. Stanley Morgan Jr. 80. Mike Thomas |
| Tight Ends | 89. Drew Sample 84. Mitchell Wilcox 86. Mason Schreck |
| Offensive Linemen | 77. Hakeem Adeniji T 68. Bobby Hart T 66. Trey Hopkins C 74. Fred Johnson G 60. Michael Jordan G 53. Billy Price C 62. Alex Redmond G 67. Quinton Spain G 72. Xavier Su’a-Filo G 65. Keaton Sutherland G |
| Defensive Linemen | 91. Amani Bledsoe DE 99. Christian Covington 94. Sam Hubbard DE 70. Margus Hunt DE 90. Khalid Kareem DE 58. Carl Lawson DE 69. Khalil McKenzie DT 71. Xavier Williams DT |
| Linebackers | 51 Markus Bailey MLB 56 Josh Bynes MLB 55 Logan Wilson MLB 59 Akeem Davis-Gaither OLB 50 Jordan Evans OLB 57 Germaine Pratt OLB |
| Defensive Backs | 21 Mackensie Alexander CB 27 Tony Brown CB 22 William Jackson III CB 23 Darius Phillips CB 38 LeShaun Sims CB 36 Shawn Williams SS 24 Vonn Bell SS 40 Brandon Wilson FS 30 Jessie Bates FS 37. Jalen Davis CB |
| Special Teams | 4 Randy Bullock K 3 Austin Seibert K 46 Clark Harris LS 10 Kevin Huber P |
The inability to host fans in 2020 came in as a huge benefit for local charities. Bengal fan cutouts at the designated end zones sections of the stadium raised $34, 000 for local charities. The cutouts remained in place till October when 6,000 fans were permitted back to Paul Brown for the Bengals’ home game against the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Moreover, the Bengals thank their fans for their generosity and support for The Boys and Girls Club, Freestore Foodbank, National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, Salvation Army, TriHealth’s Good Samaritan Foundation, and the United Way of Greater Cincinnati.
| Founded | 1967 |
| Owner | Mike Brown |
| CEO | Mike Brown |
| Head Coach | Zac Taylor |
| Stadium | Paul Brown Stadium |
| Location | Cincinnati, Ohio |
| Sponsors | Papa John’s, BlcCK OWned, Uber, Fifth Third bank |
| Championships | League championships (0) Conference championships (2) AFC: 1981, 1988 Division championships (9) AFC Central: 1970, 1972, 1981, 1988, 1990 AFC North: 2005, 2009, 2013, 2015 |
| Official website | Cincinnati Bengals: www.bengals.com |