The Cincinnati Bengals’ 2025 schedule is out, and Pro Bowl quarterback Joe Burrow has some critiques. First and foremost appears to be what the NFL has done to his Thanksgiving.
On Nov. 27, the Bengals will travel to face the Baltimore Ravens at M&T Bank Stadium. As Burrow noted to reporters on Tuesday, it will be the fourth consecutive time the Bengals’ annual road game against the Ravens is a night game.
Baltimore has won all three of the previous games and has not lost a prime-time home game since Week 17 of 2022. Burrow, who has never faced the Ravens at home in a prime-time regular-season game in his career, would like the Bengals to get a home prime-time game instead:
“Playing in Baltimore for the fourth straight prime-time year isn’t ideal. Maybe we could get one of those in Cincinnati next year. Please.
The Bengals’ home game against the Ravens this year comes 17 days later on Dec. 14 and is a 1 p.m. ET kickoff.
Either the Ravens or Bengals have won the AFC North in six of the last seven seasons, so it’s not a surprise the NFL has given them the prime-time treatment. Their last meeting was a true thriller, with the Ravens coming back to win 35-34 in an ending featuring a decent bit of controversy.
The Thanksgiving night game is one of four prime-time games on the Bengals’ schedule for next year, but only one of those are at home. That would be their “Thursday Night Football” date against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Oct. 16. The Ravens will also play four prime-time games next year, two on the road and two at home.
Of course, there is one way in which the NFL schedule-makers, or at least the schedule system, were kind to the Bengals. They will travel the fewest miles of any team in the NFL next season with 8,753.
View this post on InstagramA post shared by Yahoo Sports (@yahoosports)
One way to increase that total travel would be an international game. Consider Burrow to be a vocal proponent of the Bengals playing overseas:
“Part of the reason I wanted to do the ‘Quarterback’ show is I wanted to grow the game internationally, so to not have a stage like that is a little disappointing. I feel like I’ve consciously worked hard to try to grow the game internationally over the last 18 months or so, so hopefully at some point in my career we can go over there.”
The Bengals are scheduled to kick off their season on Sep. 7 on the road against the Cleveland Browns. It will be a day game.
