Cincinnati Bengals debut new Uni Combo for SNF

The Cincinnati Bengals have announced a never-used uniform combination for their Sunday Night Football game against the Los Angeles Chargers.

For the first time ever, the team will pair their white jerseys with their new orange pants. They will wear that with their orange helmets and white socks.

This will mark the third time this season that the Bengals will wear the orange britches.

They debuted the pants opening weekend, going orange/orange/orange/black and losing to the Patriots by a score of 16-10.

The Orange Pants would make their second appearance in Week 5, a 41-38 overtime loss to the Ravens. In that game, the team went orange/black/orange/black.

So if you’re keeping score at home, the Bengals are 0-2 in the orange pants this season, with both losses coming at home. They will try to end the Orange Pants’ losing streak on Sunday night, this time on the road against the LA Chargers.

I certainly wouldn’t go so far as to say the Bengals are the Oregon of the NFL, but with the addition of the orange pants this year, the team could conceivably go an entire season without ever repeating a uniform combination. The team has two helmets and three different jerseys and socks (black, white and orange), plus four different sets of pants (they have white pants with black stripes as well as orange).

In their 10 games ahead of this coming Sunday night, the team has worn seven different uni combinations with three iterations. Their combinations so far this season (O = Orange, B = Black, W = White). For pants, WB = white pants with black stripes, WO = white with orange. Combinations shown in bold are repeats.

Week 1: O/O/O/B
Week 2: O/W/WB/B (also worn week 6)
Week 3: O/B/WO/O (also worn week 9)
Week 4: O/B/B/O
Week 5: O/B/O/B
Week 6: O/W/WB/B (week 2)
Week 7: O/W/S/W (also used week 10)
Week 8: W/W/WB/W
Week 9: O/B/WO/O (Week 3)
Week 10: O/W/B/W (week 7)

So out of 10 weeks, the Bengals have worn unique combinations in seven of them. Sunday night’s combo will make eight different combos in 11 weeks.

One of the things I find appealing about the Bengals – who look good almost every week – is how they never wear the same color socks and pants unless they become mono-black or mono-white. I was pleasantly surprised in week 1 that the team paired black socks with the all orange uniform. While this pants/socks protocol is aesthetically pleasing, it limits their ability to walk without repeating a combination. Yet it would be possible if the team then chose to go an entire 17-week season without repeating a single uniform combination.

The team could also break out a new combination the week after this when they are scheduled to wear their orange alternate jerseys. They wore orange tops in week 1, so pairing them with either white or black pants would give a new look.

What do you think of the uniform inclinations of Bengalis? Should they try to wear a unique combination for an entire season, or do they already have “too many” options? Would you prefer that they only keep one look for home games and one for away games, with the exception of the three weeks per week? season where they are allowed to wear alternate helmets/jerseys? Are there any combinations they haven’t worn yet that you’d like to see? I personally LOVE the orange pants and would like to see them worn more often. What about you? And do you have a favorite combination? I think my favorite is O/B/O/B.