Joe Burrow didn’t hide his frustration when asked about the Bengals’ 2025 schedule. In fact, he sounded less like a franchise quarterback and more like a fan who’s grown tired of the same storyline playing on repeat.
At Bengals minicamp earlier this month, Burrow made it clear that he supports the league’s international expansion efforts. But he also delivered a pretty pointed critique of the NFL’s scheduling habits, particularly the league’s recent obsession with sending Cincinnati to Baltimore in primetime.
“Playing in Baltimore for the fourth straight primetime wasn’t ideal. Maybe make one of those in Cincinnati next year. Please,” Burrow said. “Maybe an international game next year, too.”
Burrow knew what he was doing.
And based on what NFL VP of broadcast planning Mike North told Bengals.com, the message was received, even if it didn’t change anything this year.
“It’s fair. It’s not a one-or-two years sort of a league where you fix every problem every other year or every two years,” North says. “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.”
According to North, the league considered a change for 2025 but ultimately landed on what it believed was the best overall schedule.
“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,” North said. “Which puts them in the same category as all 31 other teams. Everybody is just a little disappointed in the schedule makers.”
While North tried to paint the issue as part of a larger balancing act, his admission that the NFL may need to “adjust at some point” is as close to a mea culpa as you’ll hear from the league’s top scheduler.
That said, the Bengals have become one of the league’s most marketable teams. And while their Thanksgiving night appearance in Baltimore is likely to be one of the most-watched games in franchise history — and just their second ever on the holiday — it’s not lost on fans that it’s happening on the road, again.
North’s comments don’t guarantee change in 2026, but they at least signal that the league is listening.