The complete 2026 slate with rest edges and schedule context, the 2025 ledger, and the franchise record since 1999 — every number computed from the bundled nflverse game log.
The Cincinnati Bengals enter 2026 off a 6–11 season. Their 2026 opponents went a combined 130–159 in 2025 (a .450 strength of schedule, 30 of 32 — the naive prior-year method, whose real forecast error is measured here). The calendar hands them a net rest differential of -4 days (23 of 32), with week 7 (+7), week 10 (-7), week 11 (-3), week 14 (-3), week 18 (+3); the bye falls in week 6, they play 1 Thursday game, and 2 of their final four games are divisional. The slate has 3 kickoffs at 7 PM ET or later and a longest road stretch of 2 straight games. Rest-edge context lives in the schedule-quirks explainer; the division picture is in the AFC North preview.
Results fill in automatically as the bundled nflverse game log updates; until a game is played its result column shows a dash.
| Wk | Date | Opponent | Rest edge | Notes | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sep 13 | vs Tampa Bay Buccaneers | — | — | — |
| 2 | Sep 20 | at Houston Texans | — | — | — |
| 3 | Sep 27 | at Pittsburgh Steelers | — | DIV | — |
| 4 | Oct 4 | vs Jacksonville Jaguars | — | — | — |
| 5 | Oct 11 | at Miami Dolphins | — | — | — |
| 7 | Oct 25 | at Baltimore Ravens | +7 | DIV | — |
| 8 | Nov 1 | vs Tennessee Titans | — | — | — |
| 9 | Nov 8 | vs Atlanta Falcons | — | Neutral (Bernabeu) | — |
| 10 | Nov 15 | vs Pittsburgh Steelers | -7 | DIV | — |
| 11 | Nov 23 | at Washington Commanders | -3 | Mon | — |
| 12 | Nov 29 | vs New Orleans Saints | -1 | — | — |
| 13 | Dec 6 | at Cleveland Browns | — | DIV | — |
| 14 | Dec 13 | vs Kansas City Chiefs | -3 | — | — |
| 15 | Dec 20 | at Carolina Panthers | — | — | — |
| 16 | Dec 27 | at Indianapolis Colts | — | — | — |
| 17 | Dec 31 | vs Baltimore Ravens | — | DIV Thu | — |
| 18 | Jan 10 | vs Cleveland Browns | +3 | DIV | — |
Final record 6–11, 414 points scored against 492 allowed (-78). Home 3–6, road 3–5. One-score games (decided by 8 or fewer): 3–5 — the split most likely to regress either way, per the Pythagorean explainer.
Across the 27 seasons in the bundled game log the franchise is 199–233–4 (.461). Best season in the window: 2015 (12–4); leanest: 2002 (2–14). Franchise moves are joined under the current code (CIN), so older seasons include predecessor cities where applicable.
Sources: nflverse public game log bundled at data/games.csv (schedule, rest, and results; retrieved August 2026 — in-season updates refresh this page's results column). No projections, no invented numbers: this page reports the schedule and the record, and links the analysis.