Ranking the best Bengals jerseys of all time
By Eric Bruns
The Cincinnati Bengals have gone through multiple uniform changes throughout the years. Not as many as other teams, likely because those Orange and Black stripes look too good to deviate from. Since the team's formation in 1968, they have had six significant changes in their uniforms with a minor alteration on their sixth incantation.
Currently, teams are allowed one alternative jersey with their home and away jerseys. Beginning with last season teams were allowed to use an alternate helmet. The alternate uniform is usually a color rush primarily used for Thursday Night Football. The Bengals' alternate uniform will take one slot on Stripe Hype’s ranking of these jersey iterations, but where?
6. The Beginning (1968-1980)
The Cincinnati Bengals were born in 1968, two years before the AFL-NFL merger. This version “the original” version of their jerseys hung around for 13 seasons through the 1980 season. The home and away jerseys were black and white.
The black had an orange stripe surrounded by two white stripes and the white jersey had an orange stripe surrounded by two black stripes. The pants remained white with both sets with an orange stripe between two black stripes.
The other big difference was the helmet. This iteration had a grey facemask with an orange helmet with the word BENGALS in black block letters arched on both sides of the helmet. When you look at the uniform, without the word Bengals on the helmet it feels like Paul Brown copy pasted his Browns uniforms.
This was almost a middle finger for the way the Bengals got rid of Brown. In any case, the longer we get away from these stripe-less jerseys the more of a time they feel. They aren’t bad, just uninspiring. However, they should bring back those helmets sometime for a throwback game.
They made minor alterations in 1980 which you can read about in depth here, the biggest change was the facemask going from grey to black. But they had yet to institute the stripes.