Cincinnati Bengals

Founded: May 23, 1967
Team Owner: Mike Brown
Head Coach: Zac Taylor
Team Icon: Bob Johnson
Overall Record: 373-459-5
Fight Songs: Bengal Growl, Fear Da Tiger, Who Dey
NFL Championships: zilch
Stadium: Paul Brown Stadium (2000–present)
Stadium Capacity: 65,515
City: Cincinnati, OH
Previous Stadiums: Nippert Stadium (1968–1969), Riverfront Stadium (1970–1999), Cinergy Field (1996–1999)
Website: www.bengals.com

Bengals are scary big cats, so there's that. But that's not why Paul Brown, founder of the Cincinnati Bengals, decided on this fierce kitty as his team's name. In fact, the Bengals were not Brown's first rodeo in professional football. As his last name might give away, he was the founder of the Cleveland Browns. Yep, he named them after himself. That's either a pretty sweet move, or major megalomaniac type situation going on there. Brown sold majority interest in the Cleveland Browns in 1961 although he remained as coach until he was fired and iced out of the franchise in 1963.

A few years later Brown was granted a new football franchise in Cincinnati which we all know of as the Bengals which was named in order "to give it a link with past professional football in Cincinnati." A previous Bengals team existed in the city and played in a previous American Football League from 1937 to 1942. If you've noticed the Browns and Bengals use that same color orange paint on their lids, it's not a coincidence. Brown took the same orange helmets the Browns team used and slapped a 'Bengals' logo on the side most likely as a shot at Art Model, the Brown's owner who cut him loose.

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