Bengals 2011 Opponents Determined

When the Bengals won the 2009 AFC North, they were tasked with facing every AFC Division Champion, the AFC East and the NFC South in 2010 -- both divisions had five 10-win teams combined. With the plethora of issues that faced this team in 2010, the Bengals faced (and lost) some of the best teams in 2010 in both conferences. Of the Bengals 13 opponents faced in 2010, nine have ten wins or more and four teams won at least 12 games. The Bengals faced five of the six AFC playoff teams and two of the NFC's best three teams.

A breakdown of the team's opponents and results after the job.

Along with facing the AFC South and the NFC West in 2011, the Bengals will face all last place teams in the AFC, along with six games against their own division. Here's the Bengals 2011 opponents.

Aside from the Steelers and Colts, the team's home schedule doesn't look favorable to having many sellouts, does it? Of the team's 2011 opponents, only four are in this year's playoffs, which includes the 7-9 NFC West champion Seattle Seahawks; the Jaguars and Rams were in the playoff hunt in week 17, but they were eliminated by teams that we're already facing.

This continues our belief that if history is anything, it's cyclical. The Bengals only won four games in 2008, showing remarkable improvement in the final few games to provide fans a sense of hope, much like the team did to finish out 2010. The Bengals were awarded with a weaker schedule in 2009, which assisted their playoff run that season.