Cincinnati Bengals

:*Ben Roethlisberger was brought onto the Steelers' team in 2004 and his impressive early achievements, along with those of Carson Palmer, have been heralded as the beginning of a dynamic rivalry for some time to come.

*Dick Lebeau was fired from the head coach position from Cincinnati and returned to Pittsburgh as defensive coordinator. He either coached for Pittsburgh or Cincinnati for most of his NFL coaching career often going from one directly to the other.

*Kimo Von Olhoffen was drafted by the Bengals and when Lebeau returned to Pittsburgh (the first time after being defensive coordinator for the Bengals) he took Kimo with him. Kimo, the former Bengal, was responsible for the hit that took Carson Palmer out of the '05-'06 AFC Wild Card game with a knee injury.

*Troy Polamalu, the high profile safety for the Steelers, and Palmer were USC roommates. In one particular play Polamalu intercepted Palmer and, on the runback, Palmer was the last remaining Bengal in position to tackle him but missed as Polamalu surged passed him and scored.

*Rudi Johnson grew up in the same neighborhood as a Steelers' linebacker and they actually played against each other growing up.

*Head coaches, Lewis and Bill Cowher, grew up in the same area of Pittsburgh and actually played against each other in little-league football. Later, Cowher would hire Lewis as an assistant coach for defense, giving him his first NFL job.

* The Steelers began taunting the Bengals by using Cincinnati cheers and chants in a mocking fashion. Hines Ward celebrated a touchdown in their regular season victory at Paul Brown Stadium by doing the "Ickey Shuffle." After the Steelers beat the Bengals in the 1st round of playoffs the Steelers were noted chanting "Who-Dey!" followed by a "We dey!" Steelers head coach Bill Cowher was again quoted chanting "We day!" weeks later, at a Pittsburgh parade celebrating the Steelers' Super Bowl victory.

Paul Brown Stadium was built for the 2000 season using private and public money. In tribute to his father, Mike Brown refused corporate offers to have the stadium renamed for their company which became a trend in the NFL and other sports team around that time.

2000-Present Coaches

Dick Lebeau lost his job as head coach after winning just two games throughout the 2002 season. Lebeau went 12-33 as head coach. His last season was a franchise worst 2-14 and had the worst winning percentage of all non-interim Bengal coaches of 26.67%. He returned to Pittsburgh as the defensive coordinator.

Current head coach Marvin Lewis won 8 and lost 8 in both the 2003 and the 2004 season. He secured the 1st winning season for the Bengal's franchise since 1991-92 playoff. Has not had a losing season since taking over. He has introduced season "themes", from "Do Your Job" in 2004-05 to "Keep on Digging" 2003-04.

Defensive coordinators under Lewis were Leslie Frazier then followed by Chuck Bresnahan. Frazier, who was hired by Lewis in his first year, left the club citing personality differences and left to become a successful defensive coordinator for Chicago Bears. Bresnahan was brought in and the Bengal's turnover differential in his 1st year was a huge turnaround amounting to a +24 differential after the 12th game.

Offensive coordinator Bob Bratkowski was held over from Dick Lebeau's coaching staff. In the years following Cincinnati has regained its franchise-characteristic high-potency offense.

Memorable players from 2000-Present

*Carson Palmer, 2002 Heisman Trophy Award winner. First Bengal's QB to have a 100+ passer rating for the season, and broke several team passing records in his 2nd year as a starter (attempts, completions, and touchdowns). He also tied the NFL record for consecutive games with a 100+ rating during the same season.
* The Johnsons, wide receiver: Chad Johnson, tailback: Rudi Johnson, and fullback: Jeremi Johnson formed an offensive trio that propelled the Bengals' offense into its high-standing.:* Chad Johnson broke the team record for reception yards in consecutive years ('04 & '05 season, 1400+ yards):* Rudi Johnson broke the team record for rushing yards in consecutive years ('04 & '05 season):* Jeremi Johnson, while used primarily as a blocking fullback, is a very capable receiver.
*Willie Anderson and Levi Jones are the left and right tackles. Willie Anderson has started a franchise record amount of consecutive games.
*Deltha O'Neal and Tory James alternated leading the Bengals in interceptions where one or both gained yearly recognition by making it into the Pro Bowl. In 2005, O'Neal set a franchise record with 10 interceptions.
*Shayne Graham signed by the Bengals after being cut from 2 other teams, Graham set a Bengals record by making 88% (22 of 25) of his field goals in his first season with them. He made the pro bowl in 2005, and has not yet missed an extra point in his career.
*T.J. Houshmandzadeh was a collegiate teammate of Chad Johnson's at Oregon State and, like Johnson, had a troubled history. Originally a third and fourth receiver, Houshmandzadeh overcame hamstring problems that plagued him in his second year, shed some weight to improve his performance and was promoted to the starting lineup in 2004 with the release of Peter Warrick. While not quite as fast as Johnson, Houshmandzadeh has proven himself a dependable possession receiver who's willing to make the tough short and medium range catches in traffic where he is prone to taking hard hits.
*Linebacker Odell Thurman, a rookie second round draft pick in 2005.

2000-Present Games of Note

*December 8, 2002 - The Carolina Panthers drop 52 points on the lowly Bengals, the most ever relinquished by any Bengal team. The final score was 52-31.
*November 16, 2003 - By week 11 of the 2003 regular season, the Kansas City Chiefs were the only remaining undefeated team in the league, at 9-0. The Bengals had the worst record of any NFL team between 1991 and 2002, and at the time had a record of only 4-5 under rookie head coach Marvin Lewis. Chad Johnson, Cincinnati's 2nd-year wide receiver, made headlines with a pre-game guarantee that the Bengals would win the game [1]. The Bengals went on to beat the Chiefs, 24-19. After the game, Marvin Lewis declared, "The NFL is back in Cincinnati."
*October 17, 2004 - Prior to this game in Cleveland, Ohio, WR Chad Johnson sent his team's in-state rival, the Cleveland Browns, some Pepto Bismol to his opposing defenders, because he thought that they would get sick of trying to cover him. Unfortunately for him and the Bengals, the Browns would win Round 1 of 2004's Battle of Ohio, holding Chad Johnson to just three receptions for 37 yards and no touchdowns. Also, then-opposing QB Jeff Garcia completed a 99-yard TD pass to former Browns WR André Davis, marking the 10th time in NFL history that a 99-yard pass was recorded. The Bengals fell to 1-4, as they lost to the Browns 34-17.
*October 25, 2004 - With much fanfare from Cincinnati residents, Monday Night Football returned to Cincinnati after a fifteen-year absence. In their first MNF appearance in twelve years, the Bengals (1-4) were matched against the Denver Broncos (5-1), whose defense was ranked number one in the NFL. Considered a long shot, the Bengals defeated the Broncos, 23-10.
*November 28, 2004 - The Cleveland Browns once again find themselves on the losing end of the Battle of Ohio, losing 58-48 to the Bengals in the second-highest scoring game in NFL history (106 total points). In this game, the Bengals won the re-match for this season.
*December 5, 2004 - In another hopeful sign for fans that the Bengals were truly shedding their losing ways, they beat the Baltimore Ravens, 27-26. More importantly than the divisional win was the fact that it marked the first time since 1990 the Bengals had won a game on the road when facing a team with a winning record (an NFL record 42 straight losses).
*September 24, 2005 - After forcing five interceptions the previous week against the Vikings, the Bengals intercepted five more this game against the Bears. In doing so, the team accomplished a feat that had not been done in 34 years. The last team to have back-to-back games with 5 or more interceptions was the 1971 Browns. Later in the season, they faced the Green Bay Packers, another NFC North team, and also intercepted 5 passes on their way to victory.
*December 4, 2005 - With a 38-31 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Bengals assured themselves of the team's first winning season since 1990. Additionally, the team moved ahead of the Steelers by 2 games, taking a major step towards securing a playoff berth, and just as important, gained respect for the Bengals after years of futility.
*December 18, 2005 - The Bengals clinch the AFC North title and their first playoff appearance in fifteen years with a 41-17 rout of the Detroit Lions. Carson Palmer (QB) sets a franchise record with 32 touchdown passes in a single season, Deltha O'Neal (CB) even sets a franchise record for most interceptions in a season with 10.

AFC Wild-Card Round
*January 8, 2006 - The Bengals hosted their first ever playoff game at Paul Brown Stadium, against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Star quarterback Carson Palmer was injured on Cincinnati's second play from scrimmage, his first postseason pass attempt, (which was completed to rookie wide receiver Chris Henry for a Bengals postseason record play of 66 yards; Henry was also injured on that very play) with a torn ACL, and the team failed to rally around Jon Kitna. Multiple injuries and many fights marred the game demonstrating the intense friction due to familiarity and tension between the teams. The almost incestuous relationship between management and players (due to trades, mentoring, even players growing up in the same neighborhood) bind the teams closely together and are a great source of bitterness as well. Many predict that this game will escalate the rivalry between the Steelers and Bengals.

This year neither team's home field advantage proved advantageous. In the series the home team lost every game. The Steelers defeated the Bengals in the wild-card playoff game, 31-17.

2006 offseason legal troubles

- In the 2006 offseason, sports media wrote extensively on the legal woes and character problems of some of the Bengals players. The following is a list: [2]
- Chris Henry: marijuana charges, charged with pulling a gun on a group in Orlando, speeding and drunken driving, charged with providing alcohol to minors
- Odell Thurman: suspended for the first four games of the 2006-2007 regular season due to a drug-test related suspension

- Frostee Rucker: charged with two counts of spousal abuse and vandalism
- AJ Nicholson: charged with burglary; previously arrested twice on suspicion of alcohol-related offenses
- Ahmad Brooks: drafted despite his being kicked off of the Virginia college team due to marijuana incidents and other problems

- Matthias Askew: subdued by a taser after refusing to move his illegally parked car

- Eric Steinbach: charged with boating under the influence

Logo and uniforms

Bengals' helmet design (1968-1980)

Bengals' alternate logo (1997-present)

When the team debuted in 1968, the Bengals' uniforms were modelled after the Cleveland Browns. When Paul Brown was fired by Art Modell, it was Paul Brown who still had ownership of the equipment used by Cleveland. So after the firing, Paul Brown packed up all his equipment, which he then used for his new team in Cincinnati. The Cleveland Browns' team colors were orange, brown and white, and their helmets were solid orange with a white dorsal stripe over the crest. The Bengals' team colors were orange, black and white, and their helmets were a similar shade of orange, with the only variations being the word "Bengals" in block letters on either side of the helmet and no stripe on the helmet.

The team did not discard their Cleveland-like uniforms until 1981. During that year, a then-unique uniform design was introduced. Although the team kept black jerseys, white jerseys, and white pants, they were now trimmed with orange and black tiger stripes. The team also introduced orange helmets with black tiger stripes.

In 1997, the Bengals designed an alternate logo consisting of a leaping tiger, and it was added to the uniform sleeves. However, the orange helmet with black tiger stripes continued to be the team's primary trademark.

In 2004, a new tiger stripe pattern and more accents were added to the uniforms. The black jerseys now featured orange sleeves, while the white jerseys began to use black sleeves and orange shoulders. A new logo consisting of an orange "B" covered with black tiger stripes was introduced. The team also started rotating black pants and debuted an alternate orange jersey.

Contributions to NFL Culture

The Ickey Shuffle

The most commonly recognized contribution comes from the "Ickey Shuffle", a celebratory dance created by Bengals running back Ickey Woods in his rookie season of 1988 during the Bengals' Super Bowl run. This dance, done after Woods would score a touchdown, was the catalyst for the NFL instituting penalties against excessive celebratory performances (resulting in the backronym "No Fun League"), and before the 1989 season was over it was relegated to the sidelines. (although not before Darrell Waltrip used it in Victory Lane celebrations after winning the 1989 Daytona 500)

No Huddle Offense

A No-Huddle Offense was commonly used by all teams when time in the game was running low. However, Sam Wyche, the head coach of the Bengals in 1988, along with offensive coordinator Bruce Coslet, made the high-paced offense the standard modality for the ball club regardless of time remaining. By quickly setting up for the next play (often within 5-10 seconds after the last play despite being afforded 45 seconds) this hindered the other teams' defense from substituting situational players, regrouping for tactics, and, some suggest, increased the defenses' rate of fatigue (This is attributed to the belief that the offense dictates when a play starts so they tend to be more mentally relaxed and prepared for the start of a play where the defense must remain on a different level of alert before the play starts). In response to this tactic the NFL instituted several rules related to this tactic:
* Allowing the defense ample time for substitutions
* If a player's injury causes the play-clock to stop, the player must sit out at least one play
* Charging a time-out to a team when a player is injured within a certain time period of the game

The tactic was used by the franchise from the late 80s while Sam Wyche was the coach. The main rivals for AFC supremacy were the Buffalo Bills, coached by Marv Levy. Most of the high-profile games (the various games for AFC Conference titles and regular season games) between the two led to these changes in NFL rules.

Wyche recalled that before the '88 AFC title game the Buffalo Bills had seemingly convinced league officials to penalize the Bengals for running a no-huddle offense. In a statement made to the Bengals' press in 2005, he relayed "The NFL was nice enough to come to us an hour and 55 minutes before the game and tell us we would be given a 15-yard penalty every time we used it. Of course we had practiced it all week. We told them if they wanted to answer to the public for changing the competitive balance of the AFC championship game, that was up to them, but we were using it. They never dropped a flag."

The ironic part was afterwards the Bills began to employ the no-huddle (with Jim Kelly) and used it to near-perfection, winning the AFC title four years straight.

West Coast Offense/Paul Brown's Offense

The West Coast Offense, which is commonly employed by many teams (most notably, it was used by San Francisco during their dynasty, and the Buffalo Bills during their domination of the AFC) is the popular name for the high-percentage passing scheme designed by Paul Brown and Bill Walsh. This play scheme was used by Ken Anderson during the Bengals' initial Super Bowl run.

Season-by-season records