Study: Bengals Fans Are Kinda Annoying

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Photo: Tony Frank

A new study ranked Bengals fans as the sixth most annoying in the NFL.

As it turns out, America thinks Cincinnati Bengals fans are pretty annoying, according to new research from Gambling.com.

Gambling.com set out to find which NFL teams’ fans are the most annoying by analyzing posts on social media – the primary place to gripe about other people.

“Over the course of a season, there can be many fanbases that annoy the rest of the league’s fans for a multitude of reasons. Whether it be by gloating after a fortuitous win or by complaining too much after a bad decision, every fanbase does this to an extent, causing other fans to take to social media to vent their frustration with that fanbase,” researchers with Gambling.com explained.

Researchers used the social media listening tool Linkfluence to search for posts that contained the word “annoying” along with the fanbase of each team over the past year. Dallas Cowboys fans took the top spot, with over 15,000 posts made about how annoying they are. They were followed by the Philadelphia Eagles' and Buffalo Bills' fans.

And when it comes to Cincinnati Bengals fans, out of the 32 teams in the NFL, we rank sixth for most annoying, with 6,400 posts made about our irritating ways. As for our biggest rivals, the Kansas City Chiefs and the Pittsburgh Steelers, their fans ranked fourth and 12th, respectively, on the annoying scale.

While football generally brings out the annoyingness in fans, we think the sixth-place ranking is a bit harsh. Sure, Cincinnati’s mayor goofed last post-season with his brags on Cincinnati ahead of the Bengals’ AFC Championship game against the Chiefs – and was called out for it by Travis Kelce – but he apologized for it.

And when Damar Hamlin’s heart stopped last season while the Bills played us at Paycor Stadium, Bengals fans rallied around Hamiln, holding vigils outside UC Medical Center, donating money to Hamlin’s Chasing M’s Foundation and sending copious prayers and good thoughts to him (although we hope any team’s fanbase would act the same).

And sure, while we might be a tad annoying, we’re also incredibly loyal, with research from Canada Sports Betting ranking us as the most loyal fanbase in the NFL. So maybe instead of annoying, we're just spirited? We like to think that's the case.

The Bengals play their next pre-season game against the Washington Commanders on Saturday, with their first regular season game Sept. 10 against the Cleveland Browns.