The Bengals open the 2026 NFL season Sunday at Paycor Stadium against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and for Cincinnati, this is the kind of game that matters immediately. In a league with only 17 regular-season games, there’s no luxury of easing in. If the Bengals want the road to the AFC Championship to run through Cincinnati, Week 1 has to count.
Cincinnati enters with a favorable schedule and, at least on paper, a roster that should have the edge over Tampa Bay. The Buccaneers may not rank among the league’s elite, but they’re still one of the tougher opponents the Bengals will see. The biggest reason for optimism in Cincinnati is obvious: Joe Burrow has a full menu of weapons, with Ja’Marr Chase, Tee Higgins and a deep supporting cast giving defenses very little room to breathe.
That said, the Bengals’ offense may not come out humming at full speed right away. The expectation is that it will take a little time to find its rhythm. Even a supercar needs a few laps to warm up.
Baker Mayfield is also part of the challenge. The Bengals’ view of him has changed over time, and his career has clearly been revived since leaving Cleveland.
He’s the kind of quarterback who can move the ball and make a defense pay if it slips up. Tampa Bay has enough offense to turn Cincinnati mistakes into points.
One name that could quietly shape this game is Chase Brown. With defenses forced to tilt so much attention toward Burrow, Chase and Higgins, Brown may get the chance to exploit lighter boxes if Tampa Bay loads up with extra defensive backs.
That also plays into one of Cincinnati’s goals on offense: making aggressive pass rushes pay. The Bengals have spent more time with Burrow under center and have added more play action, and if that works, it could give him the extra beat he needs to find one of his receivers downfield.
On the other side, the Bengals have to deal with Rueben Bain Jr. The source material makes clear that if Cincinnati had kept the No. 10 overall pick instead of trading it to the Giants for Dexter Lawrence II, Bain would have been the target.
Instead, they get him in Week 1. Tampa Bay has not had a defender reach double-digit sacks since the 2021 season, and the Buccaneers are hoping Bain can help end that drought.
Defensively, Cincinnati’s biggest change is up front. B.J.
Hill and T.J. Slaton, who were starters last year, are now backups behind Dexter Lawrence and Jonathan Allen.
Add Kris Jenkins and rookie Landon Robinson, and the Bengals suddenly have a deeper interior line than they’ve had in recent seasons. That group could be the key to the game if it can collapse the pocket and force Mayfield into quick decisions or off-platform throws.
If Cincinnati gets that kind of pressure from Boye Mafe and Myles Murphy on the edges while the interior squeezes Mayfield, the Bengals’ linebackers and defensive backs should have chances to make plays.
So which defense takes control? Vegas has Cincinnati as a 3.5-point favorite, and that feels like a reasonable edge for the home team.
This should be tight, messy at times, and probably full of Week 1 rust. There will be missed chances, and there will almost certainly be a moment that sends Bengals fans into that familiar spiral of disbelief. Still, the pick here is Cincinnati.
Bengals 27, Buccaneers 20.
It may not be clean, but 1-0 is what matters.
In Other News...
Bengals Suddenly Have A Week 1 Reason For Real Optimism
A few days out from Week 1, the Bengals have started to look a lot more like the team they expected to be when camp opened. Shemar Stewart, JaMarr Chase and Tee Higgins have all returned to practice, easing some of the early injury concern that had hung over Cincinnati and giving Zac Taylor a much better baseline as the season opener approaches.
There is still the usual early-season uncertainty that comes with getting a roster fully into game shape, but this is the kind of development the Bengals needed. Taylor has already been setting expectations for fans as the opener nears, and the team also put its 2026 leadership group in place this week, with Dexter Lawrence II joining the captaincy after his recent trade. For a team trying to get its footing right away, the timing could hardly be better. [Read more 🡒]
Bengals Just Lost One Big Advantage Heading Into Week 1
The Bengals were already bracing for a tough road test in Week 1, and Tampa Bay has spent the week removing a few of the uncertainties that can make an opener messy. Vita Vea is now back in the fold on a one-year extension, Baker Mayfield has settled into a three-year extension, and the Buccaneers have a little more stability on both sides of the ball than they did when the week began.
Cincinnati also appears headed for a more complete version of Tampa Bay than the Bengals may have hoped for. Wide receivers Emeka Egbuka and Jalen McMillan have both practiced this week and are expected to be available, which only adds to the sense that the Buccaneers are close to full strength entering Sunday. For a Bengals team trying to open the season with a clean start, the margin for error just got a little smaller. [Read more 🡒]
Bengals Have A Surprise New Receiver Fans Should Be Watching
Dohnte Meyers has already packed a lot into his path to the Bengals 53-man roster, and now the former CFL standout is suddenly in the mix as a receiver worth monitoring. After recovering from shoulder surgery and helping win the Grey Cup in Canada, Meyers fought his way onto Cincinnatis roster and gives the team another fresh look at a position where every spot has to be earned.
For Bengals fans, the appeal is obvious: Meyers brings a different backstory and a late-blooming resume into a receiver room that always seems to be one injury or one hot streak away from reshaping itself. His arrival comes amid plenty of AFC North movement elsewhere, but Cincinnatis interest is in whether he can turn a surprising roster spot into something more when the games start counting. [Read more 🡒]