It’s an interesting Thursday night in Cincinnati.
The Bengals are taking on the Miami Dolphins in an exciting Week 4 matchup and for the first time in franchise history, the Bengals are wearing alternate white helmets on the field.
Their uniforms are white, their logo in the endzone, the middle of the field and now their helmets too. Oh, and they told all their fans to wear white. It’s a complete white-out tonight.
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Fans are excited by the wardrobe change, as expressed through their tweets:
Why are the Bengals wearing alternate helmets?
The Bengals-Dolphins Thursday night faceoff is the first prime-time home game of the season for Cincinnati, which is why they chose this night for the unveiling of the alternate helmets.
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Not to mention, the team also strutted a new look during a Thursday Night Football matchup with the Dolphins in 2016. That year, the team debuted its white and black “color rush” jerseys. The look was inspired by the white tigers at the Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden, said Adam Knollman, the Bengals equipment manager.
What is the story behind the white helmets?
It all starts with “the tale of the White Bengal.”
According to the tale, there were once three young Bengal tigers living in the jungle with revered crowns. One day, a new striped crown was created – “one of immense power that looked as if it was made of white gold,” as stated in a Bengals history video.
The young Bengals were eager to wear the crown but a wizard cast a spell preventing them from doing so. “Only an elder or color rush Bengal is worthy of wearing this new crown,” said the ancient wizard.
All the elder Bengals were gone and it takes two whole years for a new color rush Bengal to appear, so the jungle was in a bit of a conundrum. All hope was lost. No Bengal would wear the crown, so the three young tigers cried out in desperation.
Eventually one elder Bengal heard their cry and this once-admired Bengal was powerful enough to break the curse. The old Bengal emerged from the jungle for the first time in years wearing the zebra-striped crown, similar to the ones the Bengals are wearing tonight in Cincinnati.
Will the Bengals wear their alternate white helmets again in 2022?
The Bengals will wear their zebra-striped helmets twice this year, including tonight against the Dolphins and in Week 11 when they travel to Pittsburgh to take on the Steelers for Sunday Night Football.