Cincinnati Bengals 2025 Schedule: Game-By-Game Takeaways, Stats and Nuggets

CINCINNATI – Joe Burrow got his wish.

The Cincinnati Bengals did not.

Despite voicing their displeasure with having to play primetime road games in Baltimore three consecutive years, the NFL made it four straight, including three in a row on Thursday.

This one will be the be the biggest Thursday of all – Thanksgiving.

Burrow said toward the end of last season he thought it would be cool to play on a holiday.

He no doubt would view it as cooler if that holiday appearance wasn’t primetime in Baltimore.

The rest of the schedule features three of four on the road to start the season and three of four at home to end it.

There are four primetime games, one of which is the Thanksgiving game that kicks off what could be a brutal three-game stretch at Baltimore, at Buffalo and a quick rematch with the Ravens.

Here is the full schedule with takeaways for each game:

Sept. 7 at Cleveland Browns, 1 p.m.

This will be the 10th time the Bengals have opened the season against the Browns, more than any other opponent.

This will be the fifth time Cincinnati has opened the season in Cleveland. The most recent was the 2023 debacle in the rain, a 24-3 loss, while the others were in 2011, 2005 and 1993.

A short trip to face a team with an unsettled quarterback situation is about as good as it gets when it comes to opening the season on the road.

The highest-paid edge rusher in the league, Myles Garrett, will be there. Will Trey Hendrickson?

Sept. 14 vs. Jacksonville Jaguars, 1 p.m.

The Travis Hunter show comes to Paycor as the Jaguars settle in under first-year head coach Liam Cohen.

Jacksonville is 5-8 all-time in Cincinnati, with the most recent win coming in Bengals head coach Zac Taylor’s first season in 2019.

Cincinnati has won four of the last five against Jacksonville at Paycor.

Sept. 21 at Minnesota Vikings, 1 p.m.

The Bengals have never beaten the Vikings in Minnesota, going 0-6 all time, with the most recent meeting being the chaotic December Sunday in 2017 when reports surfaced right before the game that head coach Marvin Lewis was stepping down.

Despite the fruitless history in Minnesota, it’s still an advantageous matchup as Vikings quarterback JJ McCarthy, though not technically a rookie, should have just two career starters under his belt after missing all of 2024 with a knee injury.

Sept. 29 at Denver Broncos, 8:15 p.m.

This will be the fourth time the Bengals have played the Broncos on Monday Night Football, trailing only the 12 meetings with the Pittsburgh Steelers.

It will be a rematch of last year’s Week 17 overtime thriller that the Bengals won 30-24.

The last time the Bengals played the Broncos on Monday night also went to overtime, a 20-17 Denver win in a Week 16 game that decided the No. 1 seed in 2015.

Oct. 5 vs. Detroit Lions, 4:25 p.m.

Dan Campbell and the Lions will be breaking in new coordinators on offense and defense when they face the Bengals before a national audience in a late window kickoff.

Cincinnati owns a seven-game winning streak against Detroit, and the Bengals are 10-3 against the Lions overall.

It’s the Bengals’ longest active winning streak against a specific opponent, and it’s tied for the longest all time (Cincinnati won seven in a row vs. Cleveland from 2013-17 and seven straight against Houston from 1981-84).

The last time Detroit won in Cincinnati was 1992 when Hall of Famer Barry Sanders ran for 151 yards and a touchdown.

Oct. 12 at Green Bay Packers, 4:25 p.m.

It will be the ninth career visit to historic Lambeau Field for the Bengals, who are 3-5 there all time.

The Packers gave up the second fewest sacks in 2024 with 22, so this will be a good test to see where the Bengals are in rebuilding their pass rush.

Green Bay also ranked eighth in sacks, so there will be a test for the new interior of the Cincinnati offensive line as well.

Oct. 16 vs Pittsburgh Steelers, 8:15 p.m.

The run of division road games in primetime finally ends when the Steelers come to Paycor on Thursday night football.

It will be the Bengals’ 21st primetime meeting against the Steelers, most of any opponent. The team with the second most appearances against the Bengals will add to its list later in the season.

Will it be Aaron Rodgers guiding the Steelers offense?

Will Cam Taylor-Britt and D.K. Metcalf mix it up again the way they did in 2023 when Metcalf was with the Seahawks?

Oct. 26 vs New York Jets, 1 p.m.

This will be the first of two consecutive games, and three out of four, against teams with a new head coach as Aaron Glenn and new quarterback Justin Fields come to Paycor.

The Bengals have won three in a row against the Jets at home, and six of seven.

Nov. 2 vs Chicago Bears, 1 p.m.

One week after facing former Lions defensive coordinator Glenn, the Bengals will see former Detroit offensive coordinator Ben Johnson wrap up a three-game homestand.

Playing three in a row at home is rare, but not unprecedented.

The last time it happened was 2021 when the Bengals beat the Steelers but lost to the Chargers and 49ers.

It will be the 16th three-game homestand in the team’s 58-season history. The last time they went 3-0 in one of them was the final three games of 1997.

Nov. 9 Bye Week

One of the most predictable things about a Bengals schedule is the bye week. This is the fourth time in the last five years their bye has come in Week 10.

The outlier was last year in Week 12.

With three consecutive Week 9 byes from 2018-20, the Bengals have had a Week 9 or 10 bye in seven of the last eight seasons.

Nov. 16 at Pittsburgh Steelers, 1 p.m.

This will be the first road game in 35 days, tying the franchise record for longest span of not playing away from home (non-strike year).

The have been five other seasons in which the Bengals with 35 days between road games – 2012, 2009, 1996, 1990, 1973.

The Bengals finished .500 or better in each one of them.

Nov. 23 vs. New England Patriots, 1 p.m.

This will mark two years in a row the Patriots have visited Paycor with a new head coach as Mike Vrabel takes over following Jerod Mayo’s failed one-year stint.

Bengals fans are hoping that is the only similarity after New England won one of its four games with a 16-10 upset in Week 1 last year, ultimately cost the Bengals a playoff spot.

Nov. 27 at Baltimore Ravens, 8:20 p.m.

Here they go again.

For the third year in a row the Bengals will play the Ravens at Baltimore on a Thursday night.

And it’s the fourth year in a row the Bengals will play in Baltimore in primetime and in Cincinnati at 1 p.m.

Their beef is legitimate.

Dec. 7 at Buffalo Bills, 4:25 p.m.

It snowed the last time the Bengals visited Buffalo, and it could happen again with a December trip.

Buffalo had 22 inches of snow in December last year. It had 64.7 inches in 2022.

The Bills have won eight consecutive home games in December and January.

And since Josh Allen arrived in 2018, they are 15-4 at home in December and January, which is tied with Kansas City for the second-best winning percent (.789) in the league behind Dallas (13-3, .813)

Dec. 14 vs. Baltimore Ravens, 1 p.m.

While the first meeting in Baltimore is a tired old tale, this one provides a fresh twist.

This will be the first time in franchise history the Bengals and Ravens have been scheduled to play two games in a span of three weeks (they played unplanned back-to-back games in the 2022 season with a Wild Card matchup following the regular season finale).

Forget playing three of the first four on the road. This three-game stretch is far and away the most difficult on the schedule.

Dec. 21 at Miami Dolphins, 8:25 p.m.

A road trippers delight with the proximity to Christmas and the fact that the average temperature in Miami in the month of December in 77 degrees.

This will be the 10th primetime meeting between the Bengals and Dolphins and second in four seasons.

It also will be one day shy of the six-year anniversary of the Burrow Bowl, when the Bengals lost to the Dolphins in Week 16, 2019, to secure the No. 1 overall draft pick.

Dec. 27/28 vs. Arizona Cardinals, TBA

This is one of the game that can be flexed into the Saturday window, as the Bengals were last year in Week 17 against the Broncos and in 2023 in Week 17 against the Vikings.

 Any time a warm weather team visits Cincinnati in December, it’s a plus.

Jan. 3/4 vs. Cleveland Browns, TBA

Every two years, the Bengals end the season against Cleveland. They also did it in 2023, 2021 and 2019.

This version of the Browns could be drastically different from what the Bengals see in Week 1.

The Vegas win total for the Browns is 4.5, lowest of any team in the league. That, coupled with three of the final four at home sets up the Bengals for another strong finish to the regular season.