Early look at Bengals’ 2020 schedule will give fans renewed hope

The Cincinnati Bengals ended 2019 as the AFC’s worst team. In fact, they were the worst team in the entire NFL.

With the No. 1 pick in the 2020 NFL Draft locked up, the Bengals will have a renewed sense of hope to kick off next season.

With Joe Burrow, the consensus top overall pick, taking over and 2019 first-round pick Jonah Williams healthy, this team should be drastically better offensively. Let’s also mention that A.J. Green should be healthy and still with the team as they plan to franchise tag him if the two cannot comes to terms on a deal.

A superstar receiver, a quarterback with unparalleled upside and an improved line — that’s a good start. That’s where fans will begin to have, dare I say, hope.

Then there’s the recently-released schedule.

Here’s how the Bengals 2020 opponents, with home and away designations, will look.

From first look, there’s even more hope.

Let’s be honest though. We do this every season. We did it this season, the season before, and the season before that.

I take a look at this schedule and see a 10-6 team. They have Baltimore twice — that’s tough. Outside of the Ravens, they don’t play another team finished in the top three of their respective conference.

There’s no Patriots, Chiefs, Saints, 49ers, Seahawks, Packers or even Bills. They play every team in the AFC South, a division that finished with a .500 record and just one double-digit win team.

Then, an even further look shows that the Bengals will also be taking on four teams that will be drafting within the 2020 NFL Draft’s first six picks. They should be favored in those four which will make another tough season excruciating for fans.

This schedule could be among the easiest in the league.

However, let’s not get our hopes up yet because quite frankly anything could happen with a rookie quarterback at the helm if the Heisman trophy winner is even the top overall pick in the draft.