With the 2025 schedule released, let’s take a look at a realistic record.
The 2025 schedule has been officially released, and now it’s time to assess its realistic outcome.
I mentioned in a previous post that this team must start off hot. That has been their issue for the last few years, as the staff typically does not play the starters much in the preseason, leading to frequent slow starts.
This year, it seems to be a headliner of the Zac Taylor era. The draft didn’t go as well as some people had expected, but nevertheless, they still hit on most of the positions they were lacking. Now it’s time for those guys to get good reps in training camp, as well as the preseason, and come out firing regular season, hitting on all cylinders.
The Bengals are ranked as having the 14th hardest schedule, which is about the middle of the pack, but still in the top half of the NFL.
Week 1, opening up in Cleveland for the first Battle of Ohio game.
Week 2, home opener against Jacksonville, followed by Minnesota and Denver on the road for weeks 3 and 4.
They come home for week 5 against the Lions, then back on the road to Lambeau against the Packers for week 6.
They come home for three in a row against the Steelers, Jets, and Bears for weeks 7-9.
Week 10 is a bye week.
After their bye week, they open the second half of the season in Pittsburgh for week 11, then back home for week 12 against the Patriots. Then back-to-back on the road for weeks 13 and 14, against the Ravens for a primetime Thanksgiving Day matchup and then the Buffalo Bills.
Not exciting enough yet? How about a quick turnaround as they come and face the Ravens for their second matchup for week 15, and then they travel to Miami for week 16, facing the Dolphins.
Then they close out the season at home for weeks 17 and 18, against the Cardinals and their second Battle of Ohio game against the Browns, as they open and close their season with Cleveland.
A lot to break down here. They only have one primetime game at home, and it’s week 7 against the Steelers, while they have three on the road in week 4 against Denver, week 13 against Baltimore for Thanksgiving, and week 16 in Miami. Arguably the biggest AFC rivalry in the last few postseasons, Cincinnati will not face the Chiefs at all. Although they ultimately may face them in the postseason, hopefully at home.
As you can see there aren’t too many games where you think it’s an easy win. They have pretty tough matchups each week, and depending on how the season goes, major matchups every few weeks. Meaning a fast start is as important as ever.
Let’s walk through a prediction of how this season might go:
Week 1: @ CLE – W
Week 2: vs JAX – W
Week 3: @ MINN – W
Week 4: @ DEN – W
Week 5: vs DET – L
Week 6: @ GB – L
Week 7: vs PIT – W
Week 8: vs NYJ – W
Week 9: vs CHI – W
Week 10: BYE
Week 11: @ PIT – W
Week 12: vs NE – W
Week 13: @ BAL – W
Week 14: @ BUFF – W
Week 15: vs BAL – L
Week 16: @ MIA – W
Week 17: vs ARI – W
Week 18: vs CLE – W
Final: 14-3
You call me out if you want, I understand this is a tough record. But they could potentially grab the number 1 seed with this record and host their first playoff game.
Obviously, for this to happen, they have to start off and keep that momentum. We can’t control injuries and other factors…There are several games that could go the other way.
In the past they seem to play better on the road, and in primetime. They also have a load of guys who play phenomenally well when the lights are on.
For some reason, Cleveland has had the Bengals number over and over year after year. But, as I mentioned before, the Bengals hit on a lot of necessary positions in the draft. They also completely revamped the defensive coaching staff. Hopefully, they can boost the defense to play at a higher level than last year, but let’s face it, they can’t go down any further as they were in the bottom five of total defense. They were able to snag two linebackers and another edge rusher, as they had Akeem Davis-Gaither sign with the Cardinals and Sam Hubbard retired.
If they win the games that are coin flips to me currently, they finish 11-6.
I think it comes to a battle against Baltimore for the AFC North. I believe they have to beat the Ravens both times to take that title.
It’s going to be an interesting season for sure on both sides of the ball for the Bengals. I think they have a lot of trust in Geno Stone since they decided not to draft a safety(I’m 50/50 on that.) Stone was iffy at best for most of the season until he turned it around and got hot in the last five or so games.
Alongside that thought, this is a prove-it season for Cam Taylor-Britt. He had a great rookie season and did a complete 180 last year. However, he was never able to keep his man in front of me; he always seemed to be in the wrong spot. He looked lost.
They are getting Dax Hill back, which I think will be a big boost. They had Vonn Bell starting over Jordan Battle, which hurt them a lot more than it helped. Trey was really the only guy all season that was able to get to the quarterback, which helped launch him to become the NFL’s sack leader.
On the other side of the ball, you had Cappa sign with the Raiders and they brought it free agent Lucas Patrick and they drafted Dylan Fairchild out of Georgia.
They also dumped offensive line coach Frank Pollack, which was long overdue, and they got Scott Peters from New England, previously with Cleveland where he worked with former offensive coordinator, Brian Callahan’s dad, Bill Callahan.
With the defense being led under Al Golden instead of Lou Anarumo, who went to Indy, I think it’ll be a completely different scheme and attitude. From the clips I’ve seen so far and what I’ve been reading, aggressive is the first word that comes to mind.
But I think you can absolutely compare the offense to last year. At one point, they were consistently scoring 30+ points and losing, which was mind-boggling to everyone. With the addition of Fairchild and Perine, along with the extensions to Gesicki, Chase, and Higgins, I believe they will explode again. I think Fairchild wins a guard spot, and I think they get ridiculously creative with play calls. With Gesicki being very comparable to other receivers, Perine and Chase Brown are both excellent out of the backfield. Then they drafted Tajh Brooks late, and he was arguably the best blocking running back in the draft.
It seems they boosted an already-boosted offense. It’ll be a toss-up who claims the second guard spot between Patrick, Ford, and Volson. Or if they decide to completely mix it up (highly unlikely) and give Matt Lee a chance at center, and move Karras to guard. The offense has a lot of potential cards to play in this year’s poker game.
It’s going to be a fun year? Get ready to buckle up because it’s going to be a fun ride.