The Cincinnati Bengals will be making NFL history this week when they take the field on Saturday in Pittsburgh and it’s not necessarily the kind of history that they would prefer to be making.
The NFL’s decision to flex the Bengals into the Saturday night game in Week 18 means that Cincinnati will now become the first team in league history to play five prime-time ROAD games in the same regular season.
Bengals coach Zac Taylor doesn’t seem too concerned with the scheduling setback.
“We know where we’re playing, we know who we’re playing, just tell us the time we’re playing,” Taylor told Fox 19. “Our guys will be ready for it.”
Over the past 10 years, only 10 teams have even had to deal with FOUR prime-time road games in a single season and none of those teams have gone 4-0. Those 10 teams have a collective record of 18-22 and that includes the 2023 Eagles and 2023 Bills, who both went 2-2 in four road prime-time games last season.
When the schedule came out in May, the Bengals were only slated to play three prime-time road games, but that number went up to four in Week 11 when their game against the Chargers got flexed to Sunday night.
At that point, the Bengals tied the record for most road prime-time games, but now, they’ll be hitting the road again for a prime-time game when they play the Steelers in Pittsburgh at 8 p.m. ET Saturday on ESPN/ABC. The Bengals game in Pittsburgh is one of just two prime-time games in Week 18 (Vikings at Lions on Sunday night is the other one).
Cincinnati has historically played extremely poorly in road prime-time games. From 2000 to 2023, the Bengals played in a total of 25 road prime-time games and they went 2-23, including 1-5 under Taylor. However, things have slightly turned around this year. The Bengals have played four road prime-time games heading into Week 18 and they’ve gone 2-2 in those games, marking the first time in franchise history that they’ve won multiple road prime-time games in the same season.
Here’s a look at their road prime-time games from 2024:
Week 6 (Sunday): Bengals 17-7 over Giants
Week 10 (Thursday): Ravens 35-34 over Bengals
Week 11 (Sunday): Chargers 34-27 over Bengals
Week 14 (Monday): Bengals 27-20 over Cowboys
The Bengals either led or were tied in the fourth quarter of both their losses, which means they were just a few plays away from becoming the first team to go 4-0 in road prime-time games since Peyton Manning’s Colts did it in 2009.
Winning on the road in prime time is difficult and that’s for multiple reasons: For one, you’re usually facing a formidable opponent, which is why the game is in prime time in the first place. Also, you have to deal with a hostile crowd.
“It’s hard to win on the road in this division: The fan bases are tough, the stadiums are tough, we’re always playing really good teams, really good defenses and offenses,” Taylor said. “It’s a challenge anytime you’re playing a divisional foe. We’re excited that we get to be on prime time. That’s an honor for us and our guys will rise up.”
Making matters worse for the Bengals is the fact that they haven’t beaten the Steelers in a road prime-time game since 1995. Since then, they’ve gone 0-5 with all five losses coming by double digits. However, it should be pointed out that Joe Burrow has never gotten a chance to face the Steelers on the road in prime time.
Burrow has been making history all season and he could do it again by leading the Bengals to their first prime-time road win over the Steelers in 29 years.
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