Cincinnati Bengals fans don’t have many NFC teams they despise, but the San Francisco 49ers might be the exception. The third-place squad of the NFC West is traveling to the Queen City this weekend to take on the hot-n-cold Bengals.
This meeting isn’t the 17th game on the schedule, but it is the game that’s been added on top of the now outdated 16-game slate the league has used for decades. Since the 49ers and Bengals faced each other’s divisions two years ago and finished last in their respective divisions last year, this was determined to be the Bengals’ fifth and final inter-conference matchup of the season.
If the 47-year history of the 49ers playing the Bengals was played out in a single season, the 49ers would likely be a division winner with a first-round bye. In just 16 all-time meetings, San Francisco has won 12 of them, two of which were in Super Bowls, and hired away one of Cincinnati’s best assistants of all-time. To say it’s been one-sided is an understatement.
Even the last meeting between these teams was lopsided. The 49ers destroyed the Bengals in Zac Taylor’s first-ever home game as a head coach back in 2019. But you don’t have to go too far back to find a Bengals win in this series. In 2015, the Bengals beat the 49ers in Santa Clara with A.J. McCarron under center for the orange and black. McCarron was starting at quarterback because Andy Dalton had a broken thumb at the time and couldn’t play.
it’s not his thumb, and it’s not broken, but Joe Burrow has a finger injury of his own now. His dislocated right pinkie is something he’ll have to play through for the remainder of the season, and his first test is to outscore a 49ers offense that is exemplifying efficiency. Jimmy Garoppolo has been the prototype point guard quarterback and is thriving in an offense stacked with explosive playmakers, including one of the premier tight ends in the game, George Kittle.
It’s not necessarily a must-win game for the 7-5 Bengals considering the state of the AFC North and the fact that this is not an AFC game, but their playoff hopes certainly don’t improve if they were to drop a second-straight home game in the middle of December.
Will the Bengals halt the 49ers’ offense like they couldn’t do two years ago? This is the story stream you need for all the latest news, updates, and analysis of the game!