The Bengals will have a rare two-game stretch against the Colts

2000 was the last year the Bengals and Colts didn’t meet during the preseason. It has become somewhat of a tradition. It likely manifested because the teams are fairly close together.

Of course, last year the teams met in the preseason, and then they met again during Week 8, which saw the teams undergo several changes between those times. But this season, the Bengals and Colts will meet during Week 4 of the preseason and Week 1 of the regular season.

This is the first time this has ever happened in the Bengals’ history.

Obviously, this may change a little bit of what the Bengals choose to do against the Colts in the preseason. You may see the most vanilla game between two teams in preseason history, which is saying something. The Bengals would be wise not to show any little bits of their new offense in hopes of surprising the team in Week 1.

Fortunately though, the preason finale is usually reserved for the reserves. Starters will rarely even suit up for this game, and it is more viewed as the last chance for players at the bottom the roster to show off their talent for their current team or another team looking to pick them up after cuts.

This means the Colts won’t gain that much of an advantage by seeing how players are used under Bill Lazor’s new offense, and how the defense plays under Teryl Austin. Of course, that means the Bengals also won’t gain much of an advantage either.

This is far different from when the Bengals were set to play the Jets to close out the 2009 regular season, but the teams were slated to play each other in the Wild Card round the following week. The Bengals played it out as more of a bye week, and then they got run over during the playoff game.

There isn’t really a lesson to be learned from that, but this seems like not as much of a big deal than people are making it out to be. These teams have met so often in the playoffs as well as the regular season in the same year that they probably have a good idea about how to go about not giving anything away.

It is more just interesting that it has happened. It really is such a rare thing. I mean it took 51 years for it to happen to the Bengals. Still, no one should be worried about advantages and disadvantages based on this.

Fans should be more concerned with whether or not Andrew Luck will be healthy, or the fact the Bengals haven’t beaten the Colts in Indianapolis in this millennium.