Well, for anyone who was excited to watch the Cincinnati Bengals play the Pittsburgh Steelers under the bright lights of primetime next week, I'm sorry to burst your bubble but the NFL has flexed the game. Now we'll get to see the Kansas City Chiefs take on the Los Angeles Chargers in primetime instead.
While Bengals fans might be disappointed to see their team have the primetime rug pulled out from under them, the team probably isn't that upset considering how poorly the first two divisional primetime games have gone for this bunch.
The Bengals lost to the Ravens on Sunday Night Football in Week 5 and then got their doors blown off by Cleveland just last week.
Considering the way the first two road divisional primetime games went for the #Bengals, doubt you will hear much complaining from inside the locker room.
— Paul Dehner Jr. (@pauldehnerjr) November 8, 2022
You DEFINITELY will not hear any complaining in the Bengals media room.
No Bengals-Steelers in primetime in Week 11
Truthfully, this isn't a shocking decision by the NFL considering how bad the Steelers have been this year. The Bengals haven't exactly wowed people this season either but they're at least sitting with a winning record and still have a legitimate shot at the playoffs.
While Bengals fans might roll their eyes at this, the NFL will take any chance it can get to put Patrick Mahomes in primetime and for good reason. This game will be a primetime matchup between him and Justin Herbert, two of the best young quarterbacks in the game. That's a much better look for Sunday Night Football than pitting Joe Burrow against Kenny Pickett.
Maybe Pickett will be decent someday but the fact of the matter is that right now, the kid has thrown two touchdowns and eight interceptions. He's not primetime material right now.
Bengals fans might take this flexing personally but this move definitely feels more like it's about the Steelers being bad than a slight against Cincinnati. Their next scheduled primetime game isn't until Week 17 when they host the Buffalo Bills on Monday Night Football. That one will be a lot of fun.