Cincinnati Bengals Troll Cleveland Browns With Uniform Announcement

The in-state rivals will meet for the first time in 2024 on Oct. 20

Cincinnati Bengals center Ted Karras (64) gets set to snap the ball in the second quarter of an NFL football game between the Cincinnati Bengals and Cleveland Browns, Sunday, Sept. 10, 2023, at Cleveland Browns Stadium in Cleveland. / Kareem Elgazzar / The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK / USA TODAY NETWORK

The Cleveland Browns and Cincinnati Bengals have a lot in common. They share a state. They share a division in the AFC North. They also share a founder.

Browns namesake Paul Brown founded Cleveland's football franchise in 1946 and spent the better part of two decades building it to prominence in the AAFC and then the NFL. Then in 1963 a rift with infamous team owner Art Modell forced Brown out of the organization. As he took his talents to the state's southern border Brown wound up helping establish the Bengals franchise in 1968.

That Paul Brown connection is at the root of what is now a heated rivalry between the two division foes. So much so that even things like the team's similar color schemes become competitive fodder for the two sides.

This week the Bengals added some fuel to that fire with the unveiling of orange pants as part of their 2024 uniform closet. The initial unveiling of the orange pants on X invoked a response from the Browns account on Tuesday.

Cincinnati took it one step further though, announcing that they "had dibs on orange pants" for their Week 16 home matchup with Cleveland on Dec. 19.

Dibs on orange pants 😁 pic.twitter.com/aJk0mTFalt

— Cincinnati Bengals (@Bengals) August 13, 2024

The orange pants have been a fan favorite look for Browns fans over the years. So much so that the organization reintroduced the look as part of its uniform combos in 2020. Now the Bengals are following a similar path and rubbing their in-state rival's nose in it along the way.

It's not the first time the two teams have feuded over uniforms either. Last year when the Browns unveiled an alternate white helmet the Bengals took exception on social media after they added a "white tiger" helmet in 2022. That debate was quickly ended when the Browns social media accounts reminded Cincinnati that Cleveland wore white helmets long before the Bengals even existed.