Stat of the Jay: Two Different Ways To Measure the Cincinnati Bengals' 2025 Strength of Schedule

CINCINNATI – The NFL will release the 2025 schedule a week from today, but we already know which opponents the Cincinnati Bengals – and the other 31 teams – are going to face, so let’s take a look at strength of schedule for today’s Stat of the Jay.

There are two ways you can judge a team’s upcoming schedule strength.

The first is the more common way, which is to base it on the 2024 records of the 2025 opponents.

But that can be a fool’s errand given how drastically a team’s fortunes can change from exit meetings in January to the actual games the following fall and winter.

Still, it’s a metric. So let’s take a look.

The Bengals have the 14th toughest schedule, with their 17 opponents in 2025 posting a combined winning percentage of .509 in 2024.

The New Giants have the toughest road (.547), followed by the Chicago Bears (.571), Detroit Lions (.571), Philadelphia Eagles (.561), Dallas Cowboys (.557), Green Bay Packers (.557) and Minnesota Vikings (.557).

The easiest slates belong to the San Francisco 49ers (.415), New Orleans Saints (.419), New England Patriots (.429), Tennessee Titans (.450), Carolina Panthers (.457) and Arizona Cardinals (.457).

But what if instead of using past performance to rate strength of schedule we instead use future expectations.

Given that reliable and accurate psychics are fiction, betting futures are out next best option.

Fortunately, Warren Sharp has done the legwork (fingerwork?) to add up every teams’ strength of schedule based on the betting 2025 win totals for each of their opponents.

Obviously those betting odds aren’t a sure thing, but they are a far more accurate reflection than 2024 records.

Using the betting futures, the Bengals (who have a 9.5-win total) have the 16th hardest schedule with three games scheduled against teams expected to win fewer than six games.

Two vs. the Cleveland Browns (5.5)

One vs. the New York Jets (5.5)

And another eight games against teams forecast to finish below .500

New England Patriots (7.5)

Jacksonville Jaguars (7.5)

Miami Dolphins (8.5)

Arizona Cardinals (8.5)

Minnesota Vikings (8.5)

Chicago Bears (8.5)

Two vs. the Pittsburgh Steelers (8.5)

Here is a look at each team’s strength of schedule rankings based on 2024 records and 2025 future odds.