Poll: Greatest Bengals quarterback of all time

The Cincinnati Bengals have had a nice run of quarterbacks during the course of the franchise’s 50 years of existence.

It began with the brief brilliance of Greg Cook, then was followed up by a Hall of Fame-worthy career by Ken Anderson. The Snake didn’t get off the to the greatest of starts to his career, but he grew to become one of the NFL’s best passers of the 70s and 80s while helping the Bengals rise to new heights, including a Super Bowl run in the 1981 season.

Soon after Anderson was heading out, Boomer Esiason rose up and picked up right where Anderson left off. Boomer had several great seasons, including an MVP campaign in 1988 that helped the Bengals reach another Super Bowl.

Then came the dreaded 90s that weren’t a complete wash thanks to a brief return by Boomer coupled with Jeff Blake becoming one of the league’s better passers for a short span.

The 2000s were shaping up to be another forgettable decade before Carson Palmer came to the Queen City. Though Palmer’s career hit a road bump with his knee injury, he still managed to put up several masterful seasons that had the Bengals in the postseason twice and in playoff contention several other years.

But once Palmer made his infamous ‘trade me or I’ll retire’ stand, that paved the way for Andy Dalton to come in and lead the Bengals to five playoff trips in six seasons.

Sure, it’s not the greatest franchise history in a league that has 32 of them, but it’s still a good one, especially in regards to the quarterbacks. Over at ESPN, they’ve done a ranking of the five greatest quarterbacks for all 32 NFL teams.

When it came to the Bengals, they had Anderson topping Boomer for the No. 1 spot, followed by Palmer, Dalton and Blake, in that order. However, their fan vote had Dalton topping Palmer for the third spot, but the rest was the same.

So now we’re asking you guys, who is your pick for the best Bengals quarterback of all time?