Primetime Games on Cincinnati Bengals 2021 Schedule
No. 2: Chicago Bears
This one seems like it’d be a given because Andy Dalton is in Chicago now. Now I will say that this game looked to be more of a lock to be featured in primetime prior to the draft but now that the Bears have Justin Fields on their roster, maybe not so much.
If this game is scheduled early in the season, it’s probably a Thursday or Monday night game, as Dalton might be the starter then. If it’s scheduled for later in the year, that takes away the appeal. It’s not exactly a revenge game for a quarterback if he’s riding the bench after getting unseated by a rookie quarterback.
The schedule makers might decide that this game is intriguing enough even if Fields is the starter. That’d be two first-round quarterbacks from the past two years squaring off and not just two first-round quarterbacks, but Heisman Trophy-nominated quarterbacks. Oh and both guys also played at Ohio State at one point.
If Dalton is the Bears’ starter, we’ll get all sorts of “Remember Dalton in Cincinnati?” storylines, but if not, it’ll be all about Burrow vs Fields and what the future of the NFL could look like.