10 Facts About the Cincinnati Bengals

Founded in 1968, the Cincinnati Bengals have had one of the most tumultuous journeys of any franchise in the National Football League. Over the course of more than fifty seasons, the Bengals have only made the NFL Playoffs on fourteen different occasions, and have never won the Super Bowl.

The Cincinnati Bengals currently play in the American Football Conference (AFC) of the NFL, and in the AFC North Division, alongside the Pittsburgh Steelers, Cleveland Browns and Baltimore Ravens. Here are six ferocious Cincinnati Bengals facts.

10 Cincinnati Bengals Facts

1. 1. The first ever draft pick by the Cincinnati Bengals was Bob Johnson in 1968. (source) The Bengals began play for the 1968 season, and selected Bob Johnson with the 2nd overall selection in the NFL Draft that year. The Center out of the Tennessee Volunteers football program earned AFL All-Star honors in his rookie season, and would go on to play his entire career with the Bengals (1968-1979).

2. 2. The Bengals lost their first ever regular season game on September 6th, 1968. (source) The first game in the franchise’s history saw the Bengals face the San Diego Chargers in the road in southern California. The Bengals lost the game 29-13, with Cincinnati Quarterback Dewey Warren going 14/26 for 125 yards and one interception. The Bengals would finish their inaugural season 3-11.

3. 3. The Cincinnati Bengals are one of 12 NFL franchises that have never won a Super Bowl. (source) Cincinnati has appeared in two Super Bowls (1982 and 1989), but have never won the big game. Other teams that have never won the Super Bowl include the Detroit Lions, Cleveland Browns, Jacksonville Jaguars, Houston Texans, Tennessee Titans, Arizona Cardinals, Los Angeles Chargers, Carolina Panthers, Atlanta Falcons, Minnesota Vikings and Buffalo Bills.

4. 4. Both of the Bengals Super Bowl appearances were losses to the San Francisco 49ers. (source) It was in 1982 when the Bengals made their first Super Bowl, which the franchise lost to the San Francisco 49ers by a score of 26-21 at the Pontiac SIlverdome. The Bengals would return to the Super Bowl in 1989, again dropping the game to San Francisco 20-16. It’s been more than thirty years, and the Bengals have yet to return to the big game.

5. 5. Anthony Muñoz was the first Bengals player to be enshrined into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. (source) Considered to be one of the greatest offensive tackles in the history of the game, Anthony Muñoz was selected third overall by the Cincinnati Bengals in the 1980 NFL Draft. He would play for the Bengals through the 1992 season, and along the way earned 11 Pro Bowl honors and was a 9-time First Team All Pro. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1998.

6. 6. Former Bengals Defensive Tackle Tim Krumrie played six seasons with a 15-inch steel rod in his leg. (source) After he suffered a tragic leg injury in Super Bowl XXIII, Tim Krumrie had to have a 15-inch steel rod surgically implanted into his leg to help stabilize it. Despite all of this, Krumrie would play six more seasons and actually retired as the franchise’s leader in tackles all-time.

7. 7. The Cincinnati Bengals are one of just five NFL franchises to hold back-to-back #1 overall selections in the NFL Draft. (source) Since the NFL Draft was instituted in 1936, there have only been five franchises (over seven occasions total) where a franchise held the first overall selection in back-to-back years, and the 1994-1995 Cincinnati Bengals are one of them. The other teams who have had this dubious honor include the 1939-1940 Chicago Cardinals, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in both 1976-1977 and 1986-1987, the Cleveland Browns in both 1999-2000 and 2017-2018, and the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2021-2022.

8. 8. Jim Breech is the all-time points leader for the Cincinnati Bengals with 1,151 points. (source) All five of the leading scorers in Cincinnati Bengals history are kickers, with those being Jim Breech, Shayne Graham, Mike Nugent, Doug Pelfrey and Horst Muhlmann. However, Jim Breech is not only the all-time leading scorer for the Bengals, but he’s the only Bengals player in history to score over 1,000 points for the franchise. Jim Breech was an 8th round draft selection by the Oakland Raiders in 1979, but would spend the majority of his NFL career with the Cincinnati Bengals from 1980 through 1992.

9. 9. The Bengals have won 10 Division Titles in the NFL. (source) Over their history of more than 50 seasons, the Cincinnati Bengals have won ten division titles, which includes five in their current division of the AFC North (2005, 2009, 2013, 2015 and 2021). The Bengals also won the old AFC Central Division on five occasions (1970, 1973, 1981, 1988 and 1990).

10. 10. The Cleveland Browns are the only team that the Cincinnati Bengals have defeated at least 50 times. (source) By the conclusion of the 2021 NFL season, the Bengals had an all-time record of 51-46 against their in-state rival Cleveland Browns, making the Browns the only team to lose to the Bengals at least fifty times. The other two NFL franchises that the Bengals have defeated the most include the Steelers (38 victories) and the TItans (34 wins).

Do you have any fascinating facts about the Cincinnati Bengals of the NFL to share? Let us know in the comments!

Featured image photo credit: AlexanderJonesi, 2020. Originally found on Wikimedia and Flickr. Image was resized and cropped. Creative Commons 2.0.

This page has been updated to include more facts.