I semi-joke on here that the Carolina Panthers, with all their possible uniform combinations, are seemingly becoming the “Oregon Ducks of the NFL,” but it turns out, they have some company in the race to see who can wear the most different uniform combos in a season. Heading into Week Thirteen, the Panthers have worn nine different uniform combinations.
When the Cincinnati Bengals play this Sunday, they will have worn their ninth different combo.
On Monday, the Bengals announced their uniform for Sunday’s game:
The orange/orange/black/orange combination is pretty rare, too. Since the Bengals introduced this uniform set for the 2021 season, that combo has only been worn four times. Two of those have been against the Steelers, and two of those have been against the Chiefs. Sunday’s opponent? The Pittsburgh Steelers.
Clearly this is a big intra-Divisional game, and though their chances of making the playoffs this season are currently at 4%, they’ll be playing hard until their season is over. And while it’s a small sample size, the Bengals have a .750 winning percentage in the orange/orange/black/orange combo.
Here’s a look at those games, opponents and scores…
November 28, 2021
Bengals 41 – Steelers 10
January 2, 2022
Bengals 34 – Chiefs 31
December 4, 2022
Bengals 27 – Chiefs 24
November 26, 2023
Bengals 10 – Steelers 16
Including the combo they’ll wear Sunday, the Bengals will have worn nine different combos, with three repeats. (The three combos they’ve worn twice are O/B/W/O, O/W/W/B and O/W/B/W.) Whether they add a 10th different combo remains to be seen. They’ll have used up their three “alternates” so that means they’ll be wearing either orange helmets and white tops, or orange helmets and black jerseys the rest of the way. Their uniform protocol may also restrict their future combos as well. Thankfully, the Bengals will only wear same color socks and pants when it’s a “mono” look. Otherwise, their pants and socks differ in colors.
What other combos exist that haven’t yet been worn?
Thus far here are their O/W combos worn:
O/W/W/O
O/W/W/B
O/W/B/W
O/W/O/W
If they won’t match pants and socks, they can still go O/W/B/O, or O/W/O/B.
For the O/B combos worn:
O/B/B/O
O/B/W/O
O/B/O/B
Since the only combo they’ll wear same color pants and hose is O/B/B/B, that’s one possibility. They could also go O/B/B/W, O/B/W/B and O/B/O/W.
The team has only three road games remaining, but one of those is at Dallas, and the Cowboys will be wearing their Icy White alternates, so Cincy will be in orange hats and black jerseys for that. So with only two white jersey games remaining, they could wear the two unused combos identified above. After Sunday, the team will have three home games, all of which will be in orange over black on top. There are four still-not-worn possibilities there.
So…in theory…the Bengals could wear seven different combos in their remaining seven games.
But there’s a catch. While the Bengals don’t usually unveil their pants/socks combos until the week of the game, they have announced they’ll wear orange pants and black socks with their orange helmets and black jerseys on December 22 against the Browns. That’s a combo they’ve previously worn this year, so the maximum number of new combos the team would wear through the end of the season is six.
Do I think they’ll wear six different combos the rest of the way? No, I don’t. In fact, my guess is that they’ll only wear one more combo: orange/black/black/black. Does that mean they won’t get a bit saucy and throw in another combo? It’s entirely possible. But even if they don’t go O/B/B/B like I expect they’ll still have worn an entirely different combo in more than half their games.
I happen to think O/O/B/O — this Sunday’s look — is their best combo, so I’m looking forward to their matchup with the Steelers. Will they go 4-1 in that? With mostly pride on the line, that may be enough.
So how will that compare to the Panthers? I’ll let you know once they declare their combo for this Sunday.
What are your thoughts on teams wearing so many different combos? It wasn’t that long ago NFL teams had two or maybe three combos a season. Now some could conceivably go an entire season without wearing a combo more than once. The NFL will allow all teams to have three different color helmets next season. Even if they stick to their “three alternates max” rule, that will definitely allow some team to pull an Oregon. Are we ready for that at the pro level?
I wonder if the advertising rate of uniform update social media posts every week varies by whether its the first time of the season/ever wearing that combo, etc. Is something seemingly that small influencing the on-field decison.
Any combo of orange and black…even mono…is better than any of the white components the Bengals have…especially the zebra bucket.
Agree, there is so little white within the rest of the uniform. All of the elements (helmet, jersey, pants) are designed to really only feature two colors. So unless they are going mono white, none of the white elements match the orange or black elements.
I think you may have doubled up on O/W/B/O in that you said they had already worn that combo twice, and that later said they still could wear it as a new combo? Not picking on you though, as this is CRAZY hard to keep track of! LOL. I agree with your favourite of O/O/B/O as their best, but I do also like the concept of O/B/O/B…anything that keeps teams from being mono!
Good catch — the O/W/B/O hasn’t been worn so it’s still a possibility; I meant to say O/W/W/B has been worn twice. (My bad). Now fixed.
This site has promoted / talked about more combos than an Italian deli.
Just post a weekly combo platter and save yourself time and hopefully better content in the future.
It’s getting repetitive and no longer fun.
Sorry this doesn’t appeal to you. Just skip over any articles like this next time, if you feel they’re not your cuppa. But I’ll continue to obsess over uniforms, and uniform combinations are a part of uni watching.
Thanks for the feedback!
Let the haters hate, Phil. This article is what Uni-Watch is all about!
I’m generally against pants being darker than the helmet, but for some reason I think the orange/orange/black combo looks decent for Cincinnati.
Like Carolina, I’m completely fine with this. If you turn on the game, you know right away it’s the Bengals.
I will die on the hill that changing the sock color doesn’t count as a new uniform combination. Next you will tell me facemask color will count.
Oh the Bengals have never worn Orange/Orange/Black/Orange/White before….
Agree, especially since players are no longer uniform in wearing socks in many games. If they actually enforced the sock rule I’d consider the position that new sock colors counted toward uniform combos, but given where we are with socks now, it is hard to consider them an official part of the uniform, they are more like a team issued accessory. Sort of like MLB players wearing various undershirts.
I think orange/black/orange/black is definitely their best look. But no matter what combo they wear we all know it’s the Bengals. Thankfully they’re not like the Oregon Ducks and wear a non-school color seemingly every week.
Orange/black/orange/black is my favorite out of the nine
A good look that contrasts nicely with the Steelers. Should be a good (looking) game. I prefer the O/B/O/B combination, but this is also nice.
Techmo Super Bowl predicted Cincy’s latest uniforms 35 years ago.
Funny you never see The Steelers doing silly Spiderman combos. Nor The Raiders or any of great NFL sets in the league.
Colored jerseys and black pants are a fashion felony (like white shoes and dark stockings). Raiders despite the fact they suck, have sales numbers desired by most teams. Dodgers, Raiders, Chiefs, Yankees…..classics rock