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The Cincinnati Bengals figure to unveil new jerseys sooner than later in the coming years as the Joe Burrow era gets started.

And those in charge of a Bengals uniform redesign would be smart to look at the fire the Los Angeles Rams just started with their own uniform overhaul this week.

And fire — mostly — has a negative connotation.

For those who haven’t seen the Rams’ redesign yet, Rams Wire’s Cameron DaSilva has an excellent breakdown of what went right and wrong.

The widespread reaction is simple: The Rams have a slick new helmet but made some baffling jersey decisions, including odd-looking numbers, design inconsistencies between different home and alternative jerseys, a weird name patch on the front and even just plain weird color schemes.

This reaction seemed to sum it up well:

Another Nike design that will be thrown out in favor of a return to throwbacks after the minimum 5-year waiting period. https://t.co/a4jg1ct3Ir

— David P. Woods (@davidpwoods) May 13, 2020

We’ve long been advocates the Bengals need to get back to simpler designs like this — while leaning heavily into the structure of their color rush jerseys.

So normal jerseys, with numbers and basic elements like this:

Like the Rams, the Bengals don’t need to do much — if anything — to the helmet. But much about the jerseys themselves could get dialed down to match modern times.

As the Rams’ reveal shows, the Bengals won’t be able to please everyone. But avoiding some of the pitfalls like inconsistencies, divisive numbers and name patches on the front will go a long way toward winning over the majority of onlookers.

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