The NFL released full schedules for the 2025 season on Wednesday night, and the Bengals will open with one of eight road games Sept. 7 at Cleveland. Here are five things to know about the schedule.
1. Bookending with the Browns
Cincinnati heads to Cleveland for the 10th season-opening matchup between the in-state rivals, and for the second time in three seasons the “Battle of Ohio” will bookend their schedules. The Bengals conclude the regular season at home against the Browns in a Week 18 game with the date and time to be determined.
The teams met in the 2023 season-opener, also at Cleveland, in a messy rain game that ended in a 24-3 win for the hosts.
This time it’s a chance for Joe Burrow and the Bengals to get off to a fast start against a team with an unsettled quarterback situation, but the question is will defensive end Trey Hendrickson be there for it? Myles Garrett was made the highest-paid edge rusher in the league this offseason and that market reset wasn’t good for Cincinnati’s negotiations. He expressed his disappointment in a lack of communication in those efforts to obtain a long-term deal and said he is willing to sit out if asked to play on his current contract.
2. Fewest road miles
According to ProFootballNetwork.com, the Bengals travel the fewest miles this season of any team in the league. They travel just 8,753 miles and many of those come in the first month and a half, as they open with three road games in the first four weeks and four in the first six weeks.
Trips to Cleveland, Minnesota, Denver and Green Bay early in the season theoretically makes for a less challenging end to the schedule. The Week 13 primetime game in Baltimore – just 17 days before they meet again in Week 15 – isn’t so favorable, but this is a situation where the good perhaps outweighs the bad.
Outside of that, there are several winnable stretches, including Cincinnati’s trip to Pittsburgh on Nov. 16 coming after the bye week and home games against the New York Jets (Oct. 26) and Chicago Bears (Nov. 2). They return from Pittsburgh to host the New England Patriots on Nov. 23. The Bengals should be favored in most of those games.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
3. Thanksgiving night
The Bengals voiced to the league their displeasure about having to play primetime road games in Baltimore three consecutive years, but that didn’t prevent the NFL from making it four straight, and this one is an especially big one.
The last two road games in the series took place on Thursday, and this one will be, too — on Thanksgiving.
Home teams in AFC North primetime games have a heavy advantage, as the Bengals have learned the hard way in recent years. The Ravens and Bengals have played some intense, high-scoring games, but those have not gone in Cincinnati’s favor the past two years.
In 2024, Baltimore won 41-38 in Cincinnati on now-departed kicker Justin Tucker’s overtime field goal after the Bengals forced a turnover, only to see Evan McPherson miss the would-be game-winner. The Ravens followed that up with a 35-34 win at M&T Bank Stadium on Thursday Night Football when they stopped the Bengals on a two-point conversion at the end.
The Bengals lost 34-20 the previous year in Baltimore when Burrow snapped a tendon in his wrist, and in 2022, they lost 19-17 on Sunday Night Football.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
4. More national windows
The Bengals play three other primetime games, and only one of them is at home – a Thursday Night Football clash against Pittsburgh on Oct. 16.
They travel to play the Denver Broncos on Sept. 29 for Monday Night Football and are at Miami on Dec. 21 for Sunday Night Football. Last year, they were 2-3 in primetime.
Cincinnati also will play in national windows in three other games. In 4:25 p.m. Sunday time slots, they take on a pair of NFC North Division opponents in back-to-back weeks, at home against Detroit on Oct. 5 on FOX and at Green Bay on Oct. 12 on CBS, and they play at Buffalo on Dec. 7 on FOX.
5. Toughest/easiest stretches
According to ProFootballNetwork.com, the Bengals’ strength of schedule ranks 17th of the 32 teams.
Cincinnati’s toughest stretch will be in Weeks 13-15 when the Bengals travel to Baltimore on Nov. 27 and to Buffalo on Dec. 7 and then host the Ravens on Dec. 14.
That game at Buffalo could be a fun one. It snowed the last time the Bengals visited the Bills, during the 2022 season playoffs, and a December matchup brings the possibility of that happening again. Buffalo has won eight consecutive home games in December and January.
A stretch of three straight home games going into the bye is unique, including matchups against two teams with new head coaches (Jets on Oct. 26 and Bears on Nov. 2) but the easiest stretch might be the final three weeks when Cincinnati plays at Miami and at home against the Arizona Cardinals and Cleveland Browns. That could set up the Bengals for a strong finish.
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