The 2025 NFL schedule will be released Wednesday night.
Wednesday night, the NFL Schedule will be released. All 272 games will be unveiled, including all the matchups NFL fans across the country want to know the most.
For fans of specific teams, Wednesday night will be the first time they can start forming travel plans to see their favorite teams play. Bengals fans know all about that.
This is my mock schedule for the Bengals in the upcoming 2025 season. It offers a fun road schedule with exciting road trip possibilities and a manageable home schedule.
Bengals 2025 Mock Schedule
- Week 1: @ Minnesota Vikings (Monday Night Football)
- Week 2: vs. Detroit Lions – 4:25 on FOX (Open in Orange)
- Week 3: @ Cleveland Browns – 1:00 on CBS
- Week 4: vs. New York Jets (Thursday Night Football, White Bengal, Ring of Honor)
- Week 5: vs. Chicago Bears – 1:00 on FOX
- Week 6: @ Pittsburgh Steelers – 1:00 on CBS
- Week 7: @ Green Bay Packers – 4:25 on CBS
- Week 8: BYE
- Week 9: vs. Baltimore Ravens (Sunday Night Football, Stripe the Jungle)
- Week 10: vs. Jacksonville Jaguars – 1:00 on CBS
- Week 11: @ Denver Broncos – 4:25 on CBS
- Week 12: vs. New England Patriots – 1:00 on FOX
- Week 13: vs. Pittsburgh Steelers (Thanksgiving Night)
- Week 14: @ Miami Dolphins – 1:00 on CBS
- Week 15: vs. Arizona Cardinals – 1:00 on FOX
- Week 16: @ Baltimore Ravens (Saturday before Christmas, 4:30 on FOX)
- Week 17: @ Buffalo Bills (Monday Night Football, White Bengal)
- Week 18: vs. Cleveland Browns (TBD)
Takeaways from Bengals mock schedule
The Bengals will be in prime time often this upcoming season. With Joe Burrow, Ja’Marr Chase, and Tee Higgins, Cincinnati will command national attention and viewers near or at the maximum number of prime-time games allowed this season.
Mike North, the NFL’s vice president of broadcasting, planning, and scheduling, said earlier this offseason that the Bengals have earned their way into primetime over the last few seasons. North added that he believes the Bengals will be well-represented on the national television schedule this season.
Keep in mind that most of the Bengals’ “attractive” games are on the road. So, they may play most of their primetime games on the road this season. Still, though, the Bengals are definitely worthy of multiple home primetime games in The Jungle.
Bengals fans also want a home primetime game against an AFC North team. That’s why I mocked the Bengals playing a Thanksgiving Night game against the Steelers and playing the Ravens at home on Sunday Night Football. Both those games are mocked in November when the NFL season separates the contenders from the pretenders.
The home game against the Lions is probably the game most Bengals fans are looking forward to the most this season. It’s been 16 years since the Bengals played a 4:25 game on FOX. The last time they played a game at that time on FOX, it wasn’t even the No. 1 game. They’re due, the Bengals, to play a game at 4:25 on FOX, at home no less, with Tom Brady on the call.
Playing the whole NFC North division will get the Bengals in multiple national windows just on that alone. The NFC North sent three teams to the Playoffs last season. That’s why I think the game at Minnesota has the chance to be in prime time, and the game at Green Bay feels like a featured 4:25 game.
Whenever the Bengals and Broncos get together, the games are always crazy. You can go back to every game between those two teams since 2006 and find something crazy in each of them, including last year’s game in Week 17 in Cincinnati. That, alone, is why the matchup this season is worthy of, at least, a featured 4:25 game on CBS.
If all goes right for the Bengals this season — avoiding a slow start is crucial — the Week 17 Monday Night Football game at Buffalo in my mock schedule could feel like a heavyweight fight. Can you imagine the Bengals in their all-white uniforms and helmets, playing reigning NFL MVP Josh Allen and the Bills for potential home-field advantage in the Playoffs? On top of all that, this could be the last regular-season home game for the Bills at Highmark Stadium.
Once the NFL Schedule gets released, it’s go time. It’s time to get your travel plans together, and it’s time to start thinking about the season. This is fun, and hopefully, the fun will be in winning this season.