The NFL spends a lot of time every year putting the schedule together, and although the league does its best to make sure every team is happy, there are always going to be some complaints. This year, one of those complaints is coming from Joe Burrow.
The Cincinnati Bengals quarterback met with the media Monday for the first time in more than three months. During that meeting, he was asked how he felt about the schedule, and it’s pretty clear there’s one thing Burrow is NOT thrilled with.
“Playing in Baltimore for the fourth straight year [in prime time] isn’t ideal,” Burrow said.
The Bengals are scheduled to play in Baltimore on Thanksgiving night, which will mark the third straight season they’ll have to hit the road to play the Ravens in a Thursday night game, which is almost unprecedented. According to SI.com, the Bengals are one of only three teams in NFL history that have had to play a Thursday game on the road against a divisional opponent in three straight seasons. The Bengals join the Chicago Bears and San Francisco 49ers.
- The Bears played at Green Bay on three straight Thursdays from 2015 thru 2017
- The 49ers played at Seattle on three straight Thursdays from 2022 thru 2024
The Bengals also played a Sunday night game at Baltimore in 2021, so as Burrow mentioned, this will actually be Cincinnati’s fourth straight prime-time game on the road against the Ravens. That led Burrow to make a plea to the NFL.
“Maybe we can get one of those in Cincinnati next year, please,” Burrow said.
The Bengals quarterback actually has a good point. Since Zac Taylor took over as head coach in 2019, the Bengals are one of just two teams in the entire NFL that have had to play four straight road prime-time games against the same opponent. The only other time it happened came between 2019 and 2022 when the Los Angeles Rams had to go on the road to play the 49ers in four straight prime-time games.
The fact that the Bengals have gotten the short end of the stick is especially brutal because AFC North teams tend to dominate at home in prime time against divisional opponents. Since Taylor’s first year as coach, the four AFC North teams have combined to play 16 home prime-time games against a division rival, and the home team has gone 13-3 in those games.
Here’s a breakdown of how many home prime-time games each AFC North team has gotten against other AFC North teams, along with their record in those games:
That’s right, the Bengals have only gotten one home divisional prime-time game since Taylor took over as coach, while every other team in the division has gotten at least four.
Burrow doesn’t complain about much, so the fact that he brought this up during his press conference means he probably isn’t the only one in the organization who isn’t happy about this scheduling quirk.
Mike North, the NFL’s vice president of broadcast planning and scheduling, essentially admitted that the Bengals probably got the short end of the stick, so it’s almost a guarantee the Bengals won’t be playing a fifth straight prime-time game in Baltimore next year.
“When trends like that emerge, we probably have to adjust at some point,” North recently told the Bengals official website. “It just ended up as we got down the stretch here, that this was our best schedule, and fully acknowledging that, I’m sure the Bengals fans are a little surprised and probably a little disappointed.”
Fans aren’t the only ones who are disappointed; so is the team’s star quarterback.
Not only does Burrow want to see a home prime-time game against the Ravens in 2026, but he also has one other request.
“Maybe an international game next year, too,” Burrow said.
The Bengals signal-caller is set to star in Season 2 of the Netflix series “Quarterback,” and one reason he agreed to participate is because he wants to spread the game of football around the world.
“Part of the reason I wanted to do the ‘Quarterback’ show is I wanted to help grow the game internationally, so to not have a stage like that is a little disappointing,” Burrow said of not getting an international game. “I feel like I’ve consciously worked hard to try to grow the game internationally over the last 18 months or so. Hopefully at some point in my career we can go over there.”
The Bengals play road games against the Steelers (Dublin), Browns (London) and Dolphins (Madrid), who all will be hosting international games this year, but Burrow’s team got passed over for an international spot. Bengals executive vice president Katie Blackburn recently said the team would likely be hosting an international game in 2027, but Burrow will have to wait until next May to find out if his team will be traveling abroad in 2026.
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Author: John Breech
May 20, 2025 | 3:20 pm
