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In 1968 the Bengals played their first games
as an expansion team. The first coach and majority owner,
was Paul Brown. Paul Brown was instrumental in bringing professional
football to Cincinnati although some view his desire to create
another Ohio-based football team was out of spite.
Paul
Brown was considered to be the greatest coach of the Cleveland
Browns, having lead them to many championship titles using
innovative approaches to training, game plans, and other revolutionary
approaches that earned him his enshrinement in the Football
Hall of Fame. The Cleveland team's owner, Art Modell, and
Paul Brown had some interpersonal conflicts.
After
the falling out Brown pushed to have an expansion team brought
to Ohio with Cincinnati being a suitable location. The similarities
between the clubs were suspicious. Cleveland's team colors
are orange, brown, and white, and their helmets were a solid
orange with a white dorsal stripe over the crest. The Bengal's
team colors were orange, black, and white, and their helmets
were the same shade of orange with a similar stripe, with
the only variation being the word "Bengals" in block
letters on either side of the helmet. The uniforms were changed
to the tiger-striped helmets in 1981.
This
sparked a bitter intrastate rivalry between the two pitting
Brown versus Modell. After Cleveland moved to the AFCCentral(now
North)in 1971, the Browns and Bengals played each other at
least two times a year, sometimes up to four times when they
met in the preseason and also playoffs.
In 2003
and 2004, the Bengals had 8-8 records under Marvin Lewis,
in his first two seasons with the team. This achievement is
normally unimpressive when compared to the rest of the league,
but after over a decade of exceptionally poor performance,
back-to-back non-losing seasons was encouraging for Bengals'
fans. The previous time the Bengals had had consecutive non-losing
seasons was in 1989 and 1990.
Founded: 1966, as an American
Football League expansion franchise. Played 1st game in 1968.
Joined the NFL in 1970.
Home stadium: Paul Brown Stadium (2000-present)
Former stadiums: Riverfront Stadium/Cinergy
Field (1970-1999), Nippert Stadium (1968-1969)
Uniform colors: Black, orange and white
Helmet design: Orange background with black
tiger stripes
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Arizona
Cardinals 
