Both professional football teams in Ohio have a direct connection to Paul Brown and this determines both their uniform and name. The Browns are named after him so the connection is clear. But the rest goes back to Masselon High School, where Brown played HS football and had his second coaching job. Their uniform in the 40's was orange and brown with an orange helmet. Pretty much exactly the same as Cleveland's. Then when Brown founded the AFL franchise in Cincinnati, he had zero energy for uniforms or names. So, he just changed the brown to black and wrote Bengals on the helmet. And the Masselon football team's name is the Tigers, so he named his team in Cincinnati the Bengals.