Week 1: vs. Buffalo Bills (Monday Night Football)
I hope ESPN campaigns hard for this game. For reasons bigger than football, they didn’t get this game last year. The lead-up to the game was unlike anything I had experienced for a regular-season game. Both the Bengals and Bills should be really good again this year, and what better way to kick off the Monday Night Football slate than with this matchup?
Week 2: @ Arizona Cardinals (4:05 p.m.)
Bengals defensive coordinator Lou Anarumo almost landing the Cardinals head coaching job this offseason could be a subplot heading into this game. He’s faced Kyler Murray and the Cardinals one time, and that was in week five of the 2019 season. Anarumo’s defense and the Bengals are in much better shape now than they were then, and they may not even see Kyler Murray in this game if he is not back from a torn ACL suffered last December.
Week 3: vs. Pittsburgh Steelers (4:25 p.m.)
Picture this: a white out at Paycor Stadium with the Steelers coming to town. Pittsburgh is an ascending team, and they are coming off a winning season despite all their struggles and injuries. Can Kenny Pickett make that second-year leap? If so, the Steelers could be legitimate challengers to the Bengals.
Week 4: vs. Baltimore Ravens (Sunday Night Football)
The past two years, the Bengals have held Ring of Honor night on Thursday Night Football. Why not have it on a bigger stage on prime time’s most-watched show, while the Bengals battle a division rival with some bad blood between these two teams?
Week 5: @ Tennessee Titans (1 p.m.)
An October trip to Nashville would be fun. I’m not really sure what to think about the Titans heading into the 2023 season. Are they the team that lost their final seven regular-season games last year, or are they the team that won seven of eight games before collapsing down the stretch?
Week 6: @ Cleveland Browns (1 p.m.)
This means the Bengals would play all three division opponents in the first six weeks of the season. Since 2002, that’s happened five times to the Bengals within the first seven weeks of the season. More importantly, the Bengals are looking to snap a five-game losing streak at Cleveland.
Week 7: BYE
Week 8: vs. Seattle Seahawks (1 p.m.)
This is not a game that can be overlooked on the schedule. Seattle is coming off a playoff appearance in what was supposed to be a “rebuilding” year in 2022. Pete Carroll is as solid as they come as a head coach.
Week 9: @ Kansas City Chiefs (Sunday Night Football)
The highly anticipated AFC Championship rematch falling right in the middle of the season; this reminds me so much of that Patriots-Colts game in 2007.
Week 10: vs. Indianapolis Colts (1 p.m.)
This is not a game that can be overlooked either. The Colts have some talented players, and it will be interesting to see if new head coach Shane Steichen can get the most out of this talent.
Week 11: vs. Minnesota Vikings (4:25 p.m. on FOX)
Both Zac Taylor and Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell are Sean McVay disciples. O’Connell helped lead Minnesota to a 13-4 record in his first season as head coach. They were solid in the regular-season, and if their defense could match their offense… this team could be really good once again.
Week 12: @ Jacksonville Jaguars (Thanksgiving Night)
It’s crazy to think this will actually be the second Burrow-Lawrence matchup, and the second in prime time. The first one came on Thursday Night Football in 2021, when Lawrence was under the saga that was Urban Meyer. Lawrence is in much better hands now with Doug Pederson, and it’s amazing to think that the four best teams in the AFC hail from Kansas City, Buffalo, Cincinnati and Jacksonville. Those are all non-major markets.
Week 13: vs. Los Angeles Rams (4:25 p.m.)
It’s weird how things work. It’s been almost one month since the AFC Championship, and I’m still not over it. Recency bias has this loss as more of a fresh wound, but Bengals fans haven’t forgotten the devastation of Super Bowl LVI.
Week 14: @ San Francisco 49ers (Monday Night Football)
This should, no doubt, be a prime time game in 2023. Both these teams are great second half of the season teams, and this could be a really exciting matchup.
Week 15: @ Baltimore Ravens (1 p.m.)
Even though the Bengals beat the Ravens twice last year, their struggles in Baltimore cannot be overlooked. The Bengals only have two wins in Baltimore in their last seven seasons.
Week 16: vs. Houston Texans (1 p.m.)
A correction to last week, but the Texans have actually won four straight games at Paycor Stadium. I truly think the Texans will be competitive in year one under head coach DeMeco Ryans, but I don’t think they will be in contention by this point of the season.
Week 17: @ Pittsburgh Steelers (4:25 p.m.)
There could be major implications in this game. The Bengals have gotten better at playing against desperate teams, but this could be a Steelers team playing for a lot in this game.
Week 18: vs. Cleveland Browns (TBD)
DeShaun Watson, I think, won’t be an issue for the Browns this year. The problem for Cleveland, though, is that they have a lot of other issues besides Watson heading into 2023.
Let me be Frank and Cut to the Chase 