Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
On Tuesday night, the Cincinnati Bengals‘ 2015 schedule was released, and they certainly have their work cut out for them. They have the second-most difficult schedule of all NFL teams, behind only the Pittsburgh Steelers. For a team looking to end their postseason drought, having not won a playoff game in 15 years, they will need to hope they even make it that far with a schedule like this.
Week 1: Bengals@ Oakland Raiders (Sunday, Sept. 13, 4:25 p.m. ET)
Week 2: San Diego Chargers @ Bengals (Sunday, Sept. 20, 1:00 p.m. ET)
Week 3: Bengals @ Baltimore Ravens (Sunday, Sept. 27, 1:00 p.m. ET)
Week 4: Kansas City Chiefs @ Bengals (Sunday, Oct. 4, 1:00 p.m. ET)
Week 5: Seattle Seahawks @ Bengals (Sunday, Oct. 11, 1:00 p.m. ET)
Week 6: Bengals @ Buffalo Bills (Sunday, Oct. 18, 1:00 p.m. ET)
Week 7: BYE
Week 8: Bengals @ Steelers (Sunday, Nov. 1, 1:00 p.m. ET)
Week 9: Cleveland Browns @ Bengals (Thursday, Nov. 5, 8:25 p.m. ET)
Week 10: Houston Texans @ Bengals (Monday, Nov. 16, 8:30 p.m. ET)
Week 11: Bengals @ Arizona Cardinals (Sunday, Nov. 22, 4:05 p.m. ET)
Week 12: St. Louis Rams @ Bengals (Sunday, Nov. 29, 1:00 p.m. ET)
Week 13: Bengals @ Browns (Sunday, Dec. 6, 1:00 p.m. ET)
Week 14: Steelers @ Bengals (Sunday, Dec. 13, 1:00 p.m. ET)
Week 15: Bengals @ San Francisco 49ers (Sunday, Dec. 20, 8:30 p.m. ET)
Week 16: Bengals @ Denver Broncos (Monday, Dec. 28, 8:30 p.m. ET)
Week 17: Ravens @ Bengals (Sunday, Jan. 3, 1:00 p.m ET)
The Bengals have been a very solid team for the past several years, and I expect nothing different in 2015. They are, however, in arguably the toughest division in the NFL, and with this difficult schedule ahead of them, they don’t have much room for error. It also doesn’t help that they play the NFC West, which in my opinion is equally tough as the AFC North. And let’s not overlook that Monday Night away game against the Broncos in Week 16.
This is a year that the Bengals, especially Andy Dalton, will have a lot to prove. Is this the year they finally make it past that first playoff game? They can’t afford to look that far ahead with this regular season schedule staring them in the face, but I still have faith that this is the year they end that drought.
