The Cincinnati Bengals regular season schedule has been released and now we can see when they play last year’s playoff teams.
Last weekend we found out who and when the Cincinnati Bengals would play in the preseason. They start by hosting the Chicago Bears, followed by traveling to Dallas to take on the Cowboys. Then they will travel to Buffalo to take on the Bills and their former backup quarterback A.J. McCarron and center Russell Bodine. Cincinnati will finish the preseason facing off against the Indianapolis Colts at home before the team has to cut the roster down to 53 players.
The Bengals will be facing five teams that made the playoffs last season, one of them twice being divisional rival Pittsburgh Steelers. The other playoff teams they will face are the Atlanta Falcons, New Orleans Saints, Kansas City Chiefs, and Carolina Panthers. The divisions that Cincinnati will face in 2018 are the AFC West, NFC South, and the third place winners of the AFC South and East. They will also be facing a short week after their first regular season game hosting the Baltimore Ravens on Thursday Night Football in week two.
Some teams that missed the playoffs last season but look to be contenders this year are the Los Angeles Chargers who are looking to give quarterback Philip Rivers another run and the Oakland Raiders who hired their former head coach Jon Gruden who came out of retirement to coach again. Gruden has been making some questionable changes to take the Raiders back to old school football.
Here is the Bengals regular season schedule:
Week 1: @ Indianapolis Colts
Week 2: Baltimore Ravens on Thursday Night Football
Week 3: @ Carolina Panthers
Week 4: Atlanta Falcons
Week 5: Miami Dolphins
Week 6: Pittsburgh Steelers
Week 7: @ Kansas City Chiefs
Week 8: Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Week 9: Bye
Week 10: New Orleans Saints
Week 11: @ Baltimore Ravens
Week 12: Cleveland Browns
Week 13 Denver Broncos
Week 14: @ Los Angeles Chargers
Week 15: Oakland Raiders
Week 16: @ Cleveland Browns
Week 17: @ Pittsburgh Steelers
The Bengals will have two divisional opponents to finish the season. Traveling to Pittsburgh in week 17 could be a hard game especially if the Bengals are fighting to get into the playoffs at that point. Here’s to hoping they are already a lock at that point! What matchups are you most excited to see in 2018?