It’s time to talk about flexing these Bengals into more primetime games

These 2021 Cincinnati Bengals look great and seem to get plenty of national love these days, mostly because Joe Burrow and Ja’Marr Chase are both electric and loveable superstars.

So with these guys at 5-2, it’s time to talk about flexing them into more primetime games.

The Bengals made good on their only scheduled primetime game of the season in Week 4 on a Thursday night, beating Jacksonville. But with eight of their final 10 games scheduled for that typical 1 p.m. ET slot (the exceptions are two road games on the west coast), there is plenty of room for the Bengals to get flexed to a 4 p.m. ET start or into Sunday Night Football.

It’s not like there aren’t good candidates for a flex, either.

• A Week 16 showdown with the Ravens seems like a natural flex, though the NFL does love its (boring) NFC East games, so it would be displacing Washington vs. Dallas.

• A Week 13 encounter with the Chargers would fire up Burrow vs. Herbert hype and replace San Francisco vs. Seattle, a battle of two-win teams.

• A Week 11 Bengals vs. Raiders game could be a showdown between division leaders that has shootout potential. That would be asking the NFL to shove aside Pittsburgh vs. Los Angeles Chargers, though.

• A Week 17 visit from Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs could have AFC playoff seeding at stake, though so could the currently scheduled NFC bout between Minnesota and Green Bay.

Flexing a game from afternoon kickoff to a Sunday night slot can be made no later than 12 days in advance, per NFL rules.

List

Bengals winners and losers after statement win over Ravens