I grew up watching Bengals football in its great moments to its bad moments from the mid-1970s to the present. So, while I did not watch those first few years, almost every signal caller that has donned the orange and black, I have watched play.
#10 is a hard choice and scraping the bottom of the barrel. Do you go with the one season that Ryan Fitzpatrick had, do you go with the legendary backup quarterback Turk Schonert, a Sam Wyche who had more success as the Bengals Head Coach than quarterback or the failed draft selections of David Klinger and Akili Smith. I’ll let you make the selection at #10.
#9 has a similar Bengals story to several of the quarterbacks on this list. Promising start with good numbers and then Greg Cook heard a pop in his shoulder in their third game of the season. Starting 3-0, Cook led the Bengals in just their second season and was named the UPI’s AFL Rookie of the Year. His 9.411 yards per pass attempt and 17.5 yards per completion are rookie records to this day. The NFL Network in its NFL Top Ten series named Cook as the #1 One Shot Wonder in NFL history.
#8 is Joe Burrow and a name that could easily top this list at the end of his career. His rookie season was spectacular and shown a young, poised signal caller that was doing a great job leading a hapless Bengals team. The hope now is not in his ability but rather that he recovers from a devastating knee injury better than another Bengals’ quarterback higher on this list.
#7 John Kitna made a splash on the NFL circuit with his headware choice in press conferences but in his 53 games, he threw 59 touchdowns and over 10,000 yards.
#6 A probable surprise name here in Virgil Carter. He was traded to the Bengals after the 1969 season and finished 1971 by leading the NFL in pass completion percentage and was third overall in passing. He led the Bengals in their first playoff appearance.
#5 I’m putting an underrated quarterback right here. Jeff Blake who had the prettiest down the field throw of anyone on this list. In 75 games, he threw 93 touchdowns and won 25 games.
#4 is Carson Palmer whose career was forever altered by the knee injury in a postseason game versus the Pittsburgh Steelers. He may be #1 on the list without that injury. As is, he is fourth on the win list but his career as a Bengal was below .500 at 46-51. He was also 0-2 in the playoffs. He was fourth in touchdowns thrown but did lead the Bengals in career percentage at 62.9 percent edging out the 62.0 percent of the #3 selection.
#3 is Andy Dalton. Biggest negative is that he went 0-4 in the postseason but that cannot overshadow his success. He is number two with 70 wins in his career and second with a 53.4 percent winning percentage. He also is the only Bengals quarterback to have thrown over 200 touchdowns while throwing 13 less interceptions in the same amount of games as the #2 selection on this list.
#2 has a strong case for #1 but he falls just short while being way ahead of #3. It’s Boomer Esiason. He his third on the list of Bengals victory but has the other Super Bowl appearance. He is third all time for touchdowns thrown and has a winning postseason record at 3-2 while wearing the orange and black. He went to New York City for a couple of seasons and returned to the Bengals in 1997 for five games.
#1 is Ken Anderson. Easy call as he should be in the NFL Hall of Fame for his 15 seasons as a Bengals quarterback. A time that the position was not protected from physical destruction at the hands of the defense. He is one of three quarterbacks with a winning record for the Bengals and led them to a Super Bowl appearances. He is second all-time in touchdowns thrown and during an era that the rules favored the defense, not the offense. His 91 wins is the most all-time by a quarterback for the Bengals and his 32,838 passing yards is the most all time. And he made those striped helmets look good.
It’s an easy choice for the best Bengals’ quarterback ever
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