Coley Harvey, ESPN Staff Writer 9y

Bengals still viewed unfavorably in Uni Watch rankings

Stripes are so not in.

At least, that's according to ESPN's resident uniform expert, Paul Lukas, a.k.a. Uni Watch.

In his latest rankings of NFL uniforms that was published Thursday, Lukas lambastes the Cincinnati Bengals for their choice of uniform scheme, effectively calling it a Halloween costume.

He ranked them the same this year as he did the last -- 31st.

Only Jacksonville was credited with having a worse uniform combination, highlighted by its multi-tonal helmet. (Those things are atrocious.)

It should be noted that high in his rankings piece, Lukas mentions his affinity for striped socks, his disdain for monochromatic uniform schemes and his hatred for design innovations that "just feel like gimmicks." Apparently the orange and black "tiger" stripes that go down the sides of the Bengals' pants are gimmicky to Lukas.

Sure, an occasional return to a Bengals throwback featuring the team's more monochromatic tops and bottoms and old helmets that spelled out the word "Bengals" would be a good look one day.

But is Cincinnati's overall scheme really that bad? There certainly are better uniform combinations in the NFL than the Bengals', but don't those unique striped helmets count for something? They deserve at least a couple of bonus points and a slightly higher overall uniform ranking.

What say you?

^ Back to Top ^