I Will Be Back Soon” Bengals Head Coach Announce His 3 Month holiday’ Why Their Coming….
NFL games provide an excellent excuse to avoid holiday gatherings, as they take place annually on Thanksgiving, and as of more recently, Christmas too. Plus, the league has thrown in a Black Friday game for good measure.
Shopping on Black Friday? Nope, football is on. Christmas with cousins? Not going to happen if the Bengals are on. Don’t feel like spending Thanksgiving with the in-laws? “Sorry, my favorite football team is playing, I can’t make it.”
The ‘watching the Bengals’ excuse won’t fly this year
But, unfortunately for fans in Cincinnati, those excuses aren’t going to work this year. The full 2024 NFL schedule was recently released, and the Bengals aren’t slated to play on either Thanksgiving or Christmas. This isn’t a huge surprise, as the Bengals have only played one game on each Thanksgiving and Christmas in franchise history.
Even though the Bengals aren’t playing, there will still be football on to at least serve as a distraction. These are the three games that are scheduled for Thanksgiving day:
Chicago Bears at Detroit Lions
New York Giants at Dallas Cowboys
Miami Dolphins at Green Bay Packers
And these are the two games that will take place on Christmas:
Kansas City Chiefs at Pittsburgh Steelers
Baltimore Ravens at Houston Texans
Those games, especially the two slated for Christmas Day, could prove to be very intriguing. So again, at least there’s something on.
The Bengals also don’t have any international games in 2024, which could be a blessing in disguise. They do have five primetime games though, including two Monday night games and two Thursday night games.
Players on the team might be glad that they don’t have any games on holidays, so they can spend the days relaxing with family and friends. But for fans in Cincinnati, it might mean that they have to attend those family gatherings this year.
Cincinnati Bengals 2024 NFL schedule: Every primetime game this season
The Cincinnati Bengals are an extremely intriguing team heading into the 2024 NFL season. They missed the playoffs entirely last season, but they’re also just two years removed from an appearance in the AFC Championship, and three years removed from a Super Bowl appearance.
A big part of the reason that the team missed out on the postseason last year was a season-ending wrist injury suffered by quarterback Joe Burrow, who figures to be healthy for the 2024 campaign. With Burrow back, the Bengals should again be right in thick of the contention conversation, and as a result they should definitely be a team that fans from across the league’s landscape will want to keep an eye on.
Bengals primetime games in 2024
That wasn’t lost on the league’s schedule-makers, as the Bengals will have several primetime games in 2024 (primetime games are ones that take place on Thursday, Sunday or Monday night) — five to be exact. Cincinnati has two Monday night games, two Thursday night games and one Sunday night game next season. Here’s the full list of 2024 primetime games featuring the Bengals.
Week 3: Mon., Sept. 23, Washington Commanders, 8:15 p.m., ABC
Week 6: Sun., Oct. 13, at New York Giants, 8:20 p.m., NBC
Week 10: Thurs., Nov. 7, at Baltimore Ravens, 8:15 p.m., Prime Video
Week 14: Mon. Dec. 9, at Dallas Cowboys, 8:15 p.m., ESPN
Week 16: Thurs., Dec. 19, Cleveland Browns, 8:15 p.m., Prime Video
Interestingly enough, three of Cincinnati’s five primetime games come against teams from the NFC East. The other two come against teams in their own division.
It’s also worth noting that Cincinnati’s game against the Kansas City Chiefs, which is slated for Week 2, isn’t technically a primetime game since it takes place during the afternoon, but it clearly could be. In all, the Bengals will get a lot of major exposure in 2024.
