Bengals Announce Stripe The Jungle Game Date For 2026 Season

The Bengals are striping The Jungle for this year's matchup against the Kansas City Chiefs. The team announced on Thursday that the annual Stripe The Jungle game is happening on Dec. 13 when the Bengals take on the Kansas City Chiefs at Paycor Stadium.

Cincinnati is capitalizing on what is a rare home regular-season game against the Chiefs. Cincinnati has played the past three outings in Kansas City, with the last game in Cincinnati happening in 2022.

"Fans wear orange or black based on their seat location to create the iconic tapered Bengal tiger stripe pattern in the stadium," the team site states. "The tradition has quickly become a bucket list experience, with fans traveling across the globe to take part. The Bengals launched the Stripe the Jungle tradition on Sunday Night Football in a 2023 win against the Buffalo Bills, an experience commonly cited as among Bengals fans' favorite memories."

Team executive, Elizabeth Blackburn, is ready to keep the tradition going.

“Traditions aren’t defined by perfect moments — they’re defined by commitment,” said Blackburn. “Stripe The Jungle represents who we are: resilient, united and unapologetically ourselves. We believe in it, our players believe in it, and most importantly, our fans have made it their own. Every great tradition in sports is built over time. You invest in it. You strengthen it. You let it grow.”

Zac Taylor was a fan of the event when it first got going in 2023, and it's become a yearly tradition.

They hold a 2-1 record in Stripe The Jungle games, with the first loss coming to the Lions last season.

"I liked the striped sections, too," the Bengals head coach told reporters after its first edition in 2023. "I thought that was pretty cool."

Taylor and the whole team are getting ready for the most hyped Bengals season of the decade.

They've spent almost all their available resources this offseason to upgrade the team, and everyone is ready to get rolling for training camp.

Things have gone so well that he even cut out the final days of Minicamp last month to make sure the team is ready to roll on the health front for training camp.

"A decision I made last week, really, we've gotten everything we want to get done. We got all the installs in," Taylor noted to the media last month. "I thought the guys did a great job getting the work in on the field since really late April, when we started meeting and lifting, and then all the field work we've done in May and June, we accomplished everything we set out to accomplish.

"I thought the coaches had utilized every minute we were on the field. I thought they did a great job with the practice plans and the reps, so I just felt like we were in a good space and ended on a high note. These guys come back in late July."

Check out more on Stripe The Jungle here.

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— Cincinnati Bengals (@Bengals) July 16, 2026

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