 | The 2026 Schedule is HERE, featuring a week one return of the 2025 NFC 2-seed Tampa Bay Bucs for Open In Orange, two primetime match ups against division rivals, and a renewed rivalry game with the Kansas City Chiefs in the 4:25 PM slot on December 13. Pick your favorite matchups below and we'll see you in The Jungle! | | | |  |  | OPEN IN ORANGE against the 2025 NFC 2-seed Bucs! It's the 11th time in its 26 years Paycor Stadium has hosted a game pitting two overall No. 1 quarterbacks. The Bengals' Joe Burrow and the Bucs' Baker Mayfield have been in four of them, and this is their first opener. |  | | |  | Another 2025 playoff team, the Jags return to The Jungle after last season's 31-27 Open in Orange win that featured a 165 yard day for Ja'Marr Chase. A little bit of running room for Chase Brown could be key this year, against a defensive front that finished with the fourth fewest sacks in the league as Brown comes off a career-year with highs in per rush (4.4) and yards, (1,019). | | | | |  | It'll be the third straight Paycor game pitting No. 1 overall quarterbacks. It's also the Bengals' first look at Cam Ward as he eases in the fourth pick of this draft, Ohio State wide receiver Carnell Tate. But it won't be decided there in another nice test for the O-line. Pass-rushing defensive tackle John Franklin-Myers, a Bengals' free-agent target, joins forces with the estimable Pro Bowl D-Tackle Jeffery Simmons and first-round edge Keldric Faulk. | | | | |  | Last year, Joe Flacco led the Bengals to a thrilling 33-31 victory in an incredible White Bengal primetime atmosphere. They return for another primetime matchup that just feels like another White Bengal or Stripe the Jungle game... The Steelers bring back Aaron Rodgers, along with recent trade pickup 6' 4" WR Michael Pittman and draft pick WR Germie Bernard from Alabama. | | | | |  | A foe from familiar territory for Joe Burrow and Ja'Marr Chase. The Bengals secondary gets the call here against the Saints' talented trio of Chris Olave, Jordyn Tyson and Devaughn Vele. They'll be factors with quarterback Tyler Shough playing solid under the eye of head coach Kellen Moore. Throw in a rookie match of third-rounders: Bengals cornerback Tacario Davis and the Saints' pick from Georgia, tight end Oscar Delp. | | | | |  | It's Bengals-Chiefs... enough said. But if you enjoy the additional insights:
Remember March, 2026, B.D.? Before Dexter? The Bengals were staring at LSU cornerback Mansoor Delane with the 10th pick. Turns out he wouldn't have been there. The Chiefs traded up from pick #9 to #6 to grab the draft's consensus best corner. Now, he will take on fellow LSU standout Ja’Marr Chase, who has made life miserable for Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo.
Chase's 439 yards in four games against KC are the most against any team not in the AFC North, and his 17.6 yards per catch is his longest against anybody he's faced more than twice. The very presence of vet Chiefs safety Bryan Cook now in the Bengals secondary reflects the revamping of a KC secondary that has been gouged by Burrow at times. | | | | |  | New Year's Eve. Primetime. AFC North rivalry. LET'S. GO.
For all the bombs Burrow throws and the plays Lamar Jackson makes, Bengals-Ravens comes down to the trenches, and this is the game Dexter Lawrence II was made for. A full house at Paycor giving the defense every advantage with the AFC North on the line.
The Ravens offensive line is in flux. With center Tyler Linderbaum lost in free agency, the Ravens have pretty much said their center isn't on the roster yet, and whoever it is, is helping first-round pick Penn State guard Vega Ioane break in. The last time the Bengals defensive line was this good in 2021 and 2022, they beat the Ravens four out of five times. | | | | |  | Cleveland traded with Kansas City in the first round in last month's NFL Draft, and the Bengals see the impact from both sides at Paycor in December. The Browns knew they'd get a tackle at No. 9, and it ended up they had their pick. They chose Utah left tackle Spencer Fano, and he'll be trying to get off the mark in the Paycor din against the Super Bowl edge rusher the Bengals picked up in free agent Seattle's Boye Mafe.
Fano also has to contend with the "The Wave," defensive coordinator Al Golden is concocting, with different looks throughout the game. Golden's plans include backing up Mafe with the statuesque 270-pound Myles Murphy, the Bengals' leading sacker last year, and the quicksilver 6-2, 252-pound rookie, second-round pick Cashius Howell. | | | | | | | | | | |
