After a wacky 2020 season (thanks, coronavirus), the Cincinnati Bengals will roar back into action for the 2021 season with a slate of matchups against some heavy hitters.
There are 17 games on the Bengals’ upcoming schedule, which was released Wednesday.
NFL seasons typically have been 16 games, but league owners voted in March to expand the season to 17 for the first time ever, in part due to a collective bargaining agreement. All teams still receive one bye week per season. The 17-game slate likely is here to stay for a number of years.
The Bengals will kick things off on Sept. 12 at Paul Brown Stadium against the Minnesota Vikings. Vikings head coach Mike Zimmer had been the Bengals defensive coordinator from 2008 to 2013, and this will be his first regular-season game back in Cincinnati since then, a release from the Bengals says.
At home Sept. 30, the Bengals will take on the Jacksonville Jaguars in a nationally televised match that features No. 1 draft pick quarterbacks Joe Burrow (Cincinnati) and Trevor Lawrence (Jacksonville).
NFL MVPs will come to town, when the Green Bay Packers (quarterback Aaron Rodgers), Baltimore Ravens (Lamar Jackson) and Kansas City Chiefs (Patrick Mahomes) visit Paul Brown in October, December and January, respectively.
Mark your calendar for Nov. 7, when the Bengals welcome cross-state rival the Cleveland Browns to Cincinnati.
Later in the season, Cincinnati will have a long stretch of a homestand, with the Pittsburgh Steelers, Los Angeles Chargers, San Francisco 49ers, Ravens and Chiefs taking up five of six game slots in the Queen City.
The Bengals will visit Las Vegas for the first time ever when the team battles the Raiders in November.
During the 2021 season, the Bengals will sport the “new stripes” uniforms that the team revealed earlier this year. This is the Bengals’ first major uniform change in 17 years.
Single-game tickets are now on sale, and there are no fees if purchased through bengals.com. See the team’s full preseason and regular season schedule.
This article appears in May 1-31, 2021.