Bengals Schedule Release: NFL finally gives Cincinnati a break with its most meaningful matchup and it's on a special day

Finally, the pendulum is swinging back to Cincinnati, and it should be an incredibly important game. The Bengals and Baltimore are projected to compete for the AFC North title this year. A Week 17 matchup could be the deciding game for the division.

Another wish granted for Joe Burrow

The NFL went four years without putting the Bengals and Baltimore against each other on primetime following a TNF matchup in 2018. That changed in 2022, the season after Cincy went to the Super Bowl, when the Bengals played the Ravens on “Sunday Night Football” early in the season.

The next three seasons featured Cincinnati coming back to Baltimore on TNF. The Bengals lost in 2023 and 2024. Joe Burrow even commented on the oddity after yet another primetime road game against the Ravens was unveiled last year.

“Playing in Baltimore for the fourth straight primetime year isn’t ideal,” Burrow said last May. “Maybe we could get one of those in Cincinnati next year, please?” 

Wish granted.

It’s a virtual certainty Cincinnati will not be playing the Ravens on TNF twice this year, so it looks like the Bengals will be playing ib Baltimore on a full week of rest for the first time in four years.

The full schedule release will take place Thursday night at 7:30 p.m. ET.