NFL Responds to Bengals Joe Burrow ‘Fair’ Schedule Complaints
Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow had a passionate reaction to his team’s regular-season schedule.

 

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There were a couple things that caught Joe Burrow’s eye upon reading his Cincinnati Bengals’ 2025 NFL schedule earlier this month.

 

First, he expressed his annoyance with the Bengals drawing yet another primetime matchup with the Baltimore Ravens outside of Ohio. The Week 13 affair – falling on Thanksgiving Day – marks the fourth straight season where the Bengals have to travel to Baltimore for a “spotlight” game on national television.

 

 

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The game also makes for the Bengals’ second Turkey Day appearance ever and first in 14 years. Still, Burrow is tired of the travel pattern.

 

“Maybe we can get one of those in Cincinnati. Please,” Burrow told reporters.

 

 

Second, the star quarterback was upset his team was not awarded an international game. For last season, Burrow allowed Netflix access to his round-the-clock routine for the filming of Quarterback, a behind-the-scenes docu-series going on its second season.

 

 

He says, part of that willingness to be involved is the effort to grow the sport’s worldwide audience. Despite him being a star on the show, Burrow won’t have the ability to hit those goals on the field as Cincy will stay on domestic soil all season.

 

“So, to not have a stage like that is a little disappointing,” Burrow added.

 

 

NFL’s vice president of broadcast planning and scheduling Mike North has responded to Burrow’s complaints via the Bengals’ team website.

 

 

“It’s fair,” North said. “It’s not a one-or-two years sort of a league where you fix every problem every other year or every two years. Once you start getting to the same thing three years in a row, four, or five years in a row, whether it’s a short week Thursday on the road or opening on the road.

 

 

“When trends like that emerge, we probably have to adjust at some point.

 

 

Despite these scheduling gripes from the Bengals’ franchise player, Cincinnati is still featured in many high-profile time slots.

 

 

“They deserve it. You’ve played your way into these windows,” North says. “An MVP quality quarterback and superstar wide receivers, and we play exciting games.

 

The Bengals received three coveted 4:25 p.m. (ET) slots and four primetime national TV spots (including Thanksgiving). Their national debut comes in a Monday Night Football appearance against the Denver Broncos in Week 4.

 

 

North thinks the MNF game the most interesting of the Bengals’ schedule because of the teams’ matchup from last year.

 

 

“I like the game that we played last year with playoff implications down the stretch,” North said of the Bengals’ walk-off win over the Broncos in their Week 17 overtime battle.

 

“That one just felt like it needed a bigger footprint. And you throw it in one of these side-by-sides,” North added. “ESPN usually does a pretty good job taking you back and forth with live look-ins, but I think you’re going to get Joe [Buck] and Troy [Aikman] out there in Denver … We’re looking forward to seeing another rematch of that one with those two teams hopefully battling again for a playoff spot.

 

 

All in all, the league will never get every team’s schedule set exactly to each everyone’s liking. North mentioned if he could “wave a magic wand” and tweak a few things after the fact, he would.

 

 

Ultimately the teams still have to settle things on the field with hopes an impressive season gives them better scheduling luck for next year. For the Bengals and Burrow, that is certainly the case as they believe they are much better than last year’s 9-8 showing.

 

 

North added with honesty: “It just ended up as we got down the stretch here, that this was our best schedule, and fully acknowledging that, I’m sure the Bengals fans are a little surprised and probably a little disappointed. Which puts them in the same category as all 31 other teams. Everybody is just a little disappointed in the schedule makers.”