The Cincinnati Bengals opened their 2025 season on the road in Cleveland and did so with a win. Their second game will be at Paycor Stadium against the Jacksonville Jaguars and, on paper, is a game that the Bengals should be able to win.
That being said, there could be some nuttiness when it comes to the assigned referees for this match-up. That's because the Bengals/Jaguars game will have one of the least experienced refereeing crews running the show.
Alan Eck is the head ref for the Bengals/Jags game and this is only his third season in that role. He was the head ref for this past Monday night game against the Vikings and Bears and we saw how many penalties there were in that game so buckle up, Bengals fans!
Bengals opener vs. Jaguars could be chaos after brutal ref assignment
Joe Burrow already is prepared for calls to go against him and his Bengals, as has been tradition in recent years, and that'll be key as the team gears up for one of the newer head refs in the league. For what it's worth, the one Bengals game that Eck officiated, the good guys won. It was a Week 18 victory over Cleveland in the 2023 season, so that is good information to be aware of here.
The Bengals were no stranger to having the penalty flag thrown their way in their season opener, tallying seven penalties for 33 yards. The Browns also had seven penalties but for 53 yards.
Will the inexperience of this weekend's reffing team impact the game? Hopefully not. But the Bengals are also 1-0 for the first time since 2021 and that's the year they went on to win the Super Bowl so the vibes are much better than they typically are this time of year.
If the officiating is fair, the Bengals should be able to handle the Jaguars and move to 2-0 on the year. That's something they haven't done since 2018.