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The Cincinnati Bengals’ 2017 schedule has been announced!
For the first time in the Andy Dalton-A.J. Green era, the Bengals will have a regular-season home opener, which will see the Ravens coming to Paul Brown Stadium in Week 1.
Here’s the Bengals’ entire 2017 schedule:
Bengals Schedule
| Week | Opponent | Home or Away? | Date/Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Week | Opponent | Home or Away? | Date/Time |
| Week 1 | Ravens | Home | Sunday, September 10, 2017, 1:00 p.m. ET |
| Week 2 | Texans | Home | Thursday, September 14 2017, 8:25 p.m. ET |
| Week 3 | Packers | Away | Sunday, September 25 2017, 4:25 p.m. ET |
| Week 4 | Browns | Away | Sunday, September 29, 2017, 1:00 p.m. ET |
| Week 5 | Bills | Home | Sunday, October 9, 2017, 1:00 p.m. ET |
| Week 6 | BYE | ||
| Week 7 | Steelers | Away | Sunday, October 22 2017, 1:00 p.m. ET |
| Week 8 | Colts | Home | Sunday, October 29, 2017, 1:00 p.m. ET |
| Week 9 | Jaguars | Away | Sunday, November 5, 2017, 1:00 p.m. ET |
| Week 10 | Titans | Away | Sunday, November 12, 2017, 1:00 p.m. ET |
| Week 11 | Broncos | Away | Sunday, November 19, 2017, 4:25 p.m. ET |
| Week 12 | Browns | Home | Sunday, November 26, 2017, 1:00 p.m. ET |
| Week 13 | Steelers | Home | Monday, December 4, 2017, 8:30 p.m. ET |
| Week 14 | Bears | Home | Sunday, December 10, 2017, 1:00 p.m. ET |
| Week 15 | Vikings | Away | Sunday, December 17, 2017, 8:30 p.m. ET |
| Week 16 | Lions | Home | Sunday, December 24, 2017, 1:00 p.m. ET |
| Week 17 | Ravens | Away | Sunday, December 31, 2017, 1:00 p.m. ET |
Because the Bengals had a third-place finish in the AFC North last year, they face the third-place finishers in the AFC West and AFC East this season. The Bills clinched the third-place spot in the East, which is why they’ll come to Cincinnati in Week 5, right before Cincinnati hits the bye week.
The Broncos clinched third place in the West, which means Cincinnati will travel to Denver in Week 11, which is part of a three-game road trip that includes the Jaguars and Titans.
In addition to these teams, the Bengals will have home games against the Browns, Steelers, Ravens, Bears, Lions, Texans and Colts.
Cincinnati will be on the road for games against the Packers, Vikings, Jaguars, and Titans in addition to the Broncos.
The Bengals’ two primetime games are both in the friendly confines of PBS. The first comes in Week 2 on Thursday Night Football when the Texans comes to town. The second comes in Week 13 on Monday Night Football vs the Steelers.
On the surface, this looks like a very manageable schedule for the Bengals. We saw just how close Houston and Cincinnati are on Saturday. The Colts are wildly inconsistent and are missing the playoffs for a second-straight year.
Then you add in home games vs the Bears, Browns, Lions, Ravens, and Steelers, you’ll see the potential for 5-6 home wins next year.
The real challenge lies in the NFC North with road games in Green Bay and Minnesota. The Packers are a lock for 10+ wins as long as Aaron Rodgers is there, and beating them at Lambeau will be as big of a challenge as Cincinnati faces this year. Minnesota will be no different with Mike Zimmer looking to show his former team what they’re missing.
The Bengals have the fourth-easiest strength of schedule, based on 2016 records, which means pretty little right now. Teams can change drastically between the end of one season and the beginning of a new one.
As a recap, here's how the NFL's scheduling formula works to determine opponents for all 32 teams each year:
- Six division games: three home and three away
- Four games against another division within the same conference: AFC South (rotates every three years)
- Four games against a division in the other conference: NFC North (rotates every four years)
- Two intraconference games based on the prior year's division standings: Broncos and Bills (two same-conference teams the team is not scheduled to play that season but finished the prior season with the same standing in their division)
What do you think of the Bengals' 2017 schedule?