Sports Illustrated Names Bengals' Home Divisional Matchup Among Top-10 Games of 2025 Season

 Sports Illustrated's Connor Orr picked his top-10 matchups for the 2025 NFL season, and Cincinnati's Week 15 battle against Baltimore checked in at No. 9.

The Bengals play them at home that week, looking to reverse a four-game losing streak to the AFC North champions entering the 2025 season.

"It’s impossible to project that a game will be close this far in advance, but both Bengals-Ravens games last year were decided by three points or fewer," Orr noted. "One of the two Bengals-Ravens games in 2023 came down to a field goal, as did one more the season before. And in all those games, the Ravens had arguably the greatest kicker in NFL history. While we’re not quite sure what Cleveland will look like and cannot be sure at all what Pittsburgh will look like, we know that Baltimore and Cincinnati will more than likely be relevant in the AFC North, especially if the Bengals are on one of their trademark torrid stretches to try to back themselves into the playoffs. 

"Now, Justin Tucker is gone, ostensibly released for football reasons but in actuality, probably released to avoid whatever impending suspension accompanies a league investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct. Baltimore is a championship-or-bust team with a former special teams savant as its head coach and one of the few teams in the NFL with a kicking-specific coach. Can sixth-round pick Tyler Loop, the theoretical leader in the clubhouse for the kicking job, steel his nerves in time for a game that could have major playoff implications?"

Cincinnati likely has to beat Baltimore at least once to take back the division crown from them. The other matchup is on Nov. 27. SI is also projecting the Ravens to come out on top of the division again and leave the Bengals behind in an eerily similar fashion to last season.

The Bengals trail in this all-time series 32-27.