Cincinnati Bengals 2018 preseason schedule

A look at who the Bengals will be facing in the preseason in 2018.

By Jason Marcum@marcum89 Updated Apr 11, 2018, 5:12pm EDT

NFL: Cincinnati Bengals at Indianapolis Colts

The NFL has released the preseason schedule for all 32 teams.

The Bengals will have a four-game slate that begins with the a home clash with the Chicago Bears in Week 1. The Bears won easily at Cincinnati late in the regular season. A date and game time for this matchup will be announced later, but it will be played sometime from August 9-13.

Week 2 of the preseason will see the Bengals hit the road to face the Dallas Cowboys, who just narrowly missed out on the playoffs this past season. A date and game time will be announced later. It will come sometime between August 16-20.

Then in Week 3, the Bengals will be back on the road to face the Buffalo Bills, who Cincinnati ironically helped squeak into the playoffs by beating the Baltimore Ravens in Week 17. Cincinnati and Buffalo will play on Sunday, August 26 at 4 p.m. EST on FOX. The Bengals and Bills have been incredibly linked since the conclusion of the 2017 NFL season. This will also be the first time that McCarron, who signed with Buffalo this offseason, will face the Bengals, so that will make for a big storyline for a preseason game. Similarly former Bengals center Russell Bodine will be facing his former team while former Bills left tackle Cordy Glenn and linebacker Preston Brown do the same.

The Bengals’ preseason finale will come against the Indianapolis Colts on Thursday, August 30. The annual I-74 rivalry game will be played in Cincinnati this year. The Bengals and Colts have played the preseason finale every year throughout Marvin Lewis’ tenure in Cincinnati, and this will be the 26th meeting in the last 27 years. This fourth game is usually dominated by players on the fringe of making the final roster, but some starters get limited snaps.

As for the regular season schedule, that’s expected to be released within the next week and a half, so we’ll soon know every game Cincinnati will play in the regular season this year. Here is a recap of the Bengals’ 2018 opponents: