Cincinnati Bengals 2009 Schedule Released

The NFL has rolled out the schedule for the 2009 season. Cincinnati will open the season at home against the now Jay Cutler-less Broncos.

Unsurprisingly, the Bengals have zero prime-time appearances. All their games are Sunday 1 p.m. Eastern starts, except for a November 22 contest in Oakland (4:15) and a December 20 game in San Diego (4:05).

The bye is nicely positioned in week 8.

The Bengals have a tough three-game divisional stretch early, starting in week 3, when they face Pittsburgh at home, followed by away games at Cleveland and Baltimore. After that, it’s back to PBS for a three-game homestand against Houston, Chicago and Baltimore.

Cincinnati finishes its division schedule early. The final division game is against Cleveland on November 29.

Around the division:
Pittsburgh, of course, hosts Tennessee to kick off the NFL season, after which they head out to Chicago and Cincinnati. They also have Detroit and Cleveland in weeks 5 and 6, so the Steelers seem poised for a fast start. They get San Diego and Oakland at home, so the furthest west they have to travel is Mile High. The Steelers have five prime-time games.

Baltimore hosts Kansas City in week 1, after which they travel out to San Diego. They finish the season with a pair of road games in Pittsburgh and Oakland. The Ravens appear on Monday night twice.

Cleveland manages two prime-time appearances, including a Monday night game against Baltimore. They have just two home games in the first six weeks, but play four of their final five at Cleveland Browns Stadium.

Reax & Analysis:
NFL.com notes that the Bengals/Jets game in week 17 will close out Giants Stadium.

There’s an alleged link to the 2009 season schedule on bengals.com, but it just takes you to the “page not found” page. Way to go, official site.

Joe Reedy notes that the Bengals are travelling to Green Bay, Minnesota, Oakland and East Rutherford, NJ, four locations in which they are a collective 0-27.

The Chickster, clearly high, guarantees that the Bengals will make the playoffs.

A bon mot from C. Trent: the Bengals play three of the five teams that draft ahead of them.

Whodeyfans thinks NFL.com’s analysis of the Bengals schedule sucks. Yeah, pretty much.

Ah, I see the official site finally got its act together.