Brown recently purchased shares of the team owned by the estate of co-founder Austin Knowlton and is now the majority owner of the Bengals franchise.

Mike Brown, the team's de facto general manager, was rated as among the worst team owners in American professional sports Compounding matters were off-field problems of several players, notably receiver Chris Henry, who was suspended several times during his short professional career and was actually released by the Bengals at one point, but was then re-signed for the season.

The franchise takes its name from an earlier Cincinnati Bengals team, which played from 1937 – 1941.

Brown named the team the Bengals in order " to give it a link with past professional football in Cincinnati.

" Another Bengals team had existed in the city and played in three previous American Football Leagues from 1937 to 1942.

In 1970 the Bengals moved to play at Riverfront Stadium, a home they shared with the Cincinnati Reds until the team moved to Paul Brown Stadium in 2000.

The Bengals ' fortunes changed for the worse as the team posted 14 consecutive non-winning seasons.

When the team debuted in 1968, the Bengals ' uniforms were modeled after the Cleveland Browns.

The official notified Wyche and the Bengals ' team just two hours before the game kickoff.

Both the Jaguars and the Panthers ( 7 – 9 ) broke the previous record for most wins by an expansion team ( 3 ) set by the Cincinnati Bengals in 1968.

Although the Bengals gained 356 yards of total offense to the 49ers ' 275, this marked the first time in Super Bowl history that the team which compiled the most yards and touchdowns lost.

The Bills became the 9th team to go scoreless in the 1st half, after the Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III ; the Minnesota Vikings in Super Bowls IV, VIII, IX, and XI ; the Redskins in Super Bowl VII, the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XII ; and the Cincinnati Bengals in Super Bowl XVI.

During a September 20, 1992 game against the Cincinnati Bengals, Favre replaced injured starter Don Majkowski and proceeded to lead the team to a comeback victory.

* Cincinnati's National Football League team is named the Cincinnati Bengals.

* The Detroit's MLB team Detroit Tigers are nicknamed the Bengals.

* Dominican Republic's most successful baseball team Licey Tigers are nicknamed the Bengals.

Former Arena League MVP, Jay Gruden ( brother of Jon Gruden ), went on to coach the UFL team, Florida Tuskers, and is currently the offensive coordinator for the Cincinnati Bengals.

The Bengals men ’ s basketball team won a State University of New York ’ s Athletic conference championship and advanced to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA Division III Tournament in 2011.

In fall 2012, the Bengals football team prevailed in a dramatic upset over the No. 1-ranked University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, breaking into the national rankings for the first time since 2000.

The Bengals women ’ s lacrosse team collectively earned a 3. 14 grade point average for the spring 2012 semester, including eight players who earned a 3. 50 or higher.

Brown was the first coach of the Cleveland Browns, a team named after him, and later played a role in founding the Cincinnati Bengals.

He retired from coaching in 1975 but remained the Bengals ' team president until his death in 1991.

Brown called his new franchise the Bengals because Cincinnati had a team of that name in the 1930s and he thought it would provide a link to the past.

The Bengals ’ colors are orange and black.

The Bengals were founded in as a member of the American Football League ( AFL ) by former Cleveland Browns head coach Paul Brown.

The Bengals, like other former AFL teams, were assigned to the AFC following the merger.

During the 1970s and 1980s, the Bengals were a perennial playoff contender and they won AFC championships in and, but lost Super Bowls XVI and XXIII to the San Francisco 49ers.

With the completion of the merger in 1970, the Cleveland Browns were moved to the AFL-based American Football Conference and placed in the AFC Central, the same division as the Bengals.

The Cincinnati Bengals were unique in the NFL as they did not have uniform numbers on the players sleeves until the 1980 season.

The 49ers had handily beaten the Bengals in a December game played in Cincinnati and consequently were installed as a 2-point favorite.

There were 12 species, about 40 centifolias, mosses and damasks, 20 Bengals, and about 100 gallicas.

Club newsletters were published, detailing the production of Bengals and Safaris ( a domestic cat / Geoffroy's Cat cross ), and members of these clubs bred some second-and third-generation Bengals.

Greg and Elizabeth Kent were also early breeders, who developed their own line of Bengals using ALCs and Egyptian Maus.

* The Cincinnati Bengals were formed

Among them were Ray Pinney of the 1970s Pittsburgh Steelers, Cedrick Hardman of the 1970s San Francisco 49ers and early 1980s Oakland Raiders, Anthony Carter ( Minnesota Vikings, Detroit Lions ), Arthur Whittington ( Oakland Raiders, Buffalo Bills ), Bobby Hebert ( New Orleans Saints, Atlanta Falcons ), Gary Plummer ( San Diego Chargers, San Francisco 49ers ), Raymond Chester ( Oakland Raiders, Baltimore Colts ), Albert Bentley ( Indianapolis Colts, Pittsburgh Steelers ), Dave Browning ( Oakland Raiders, Los Angeles Raiders, New England Patriots ), Ray Bentley ( Buffalo Bills, Cincinnati Bengals ), Dale Markham ( St. Louis Cardinals, New York Giants, Green Bay Packers ) and Derek Holloway ( Washington Redskins, Tampa Bay Buccaneers ).

The Bengals were subsequently eliminated in the West regional final by the UNLV Runnin ' Rebels.

The three players were Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Boomer Esiason, New York Mets pitcher David Cone and New York Rangers defenseman Ron Greschner.

Five Bengals women ’ s lacrosse players were honored in 2012 for work in the classroom by the Intercollegiate Women ’ s Lacrosse Coaches Association.

The Bengals entered the NFL in 1970 as a result of the AFL-NFL merger, and were placed in the newly formed American Football Conference alongside the Browns.

Four days after the Bengals were eliminated from the playoffs in 1975, Brown announced he was retiring after 45 years of coaching.

When the Bengals moved to Paul Brown Stadium in 2000, the Reds were left as Cinergy Field's only tenant.

The Steelers were scheduled to open the regular season play at Heinz Field on September 16 against the Cleveland Browns, however, due to the September 11 attacks, all NFL games of the week were postponed ; thus moving the stadium's premiere to October 7, against the Cincinnati Bengals.