2016 Cincinnati Bengals Schedule: Full Listing of Dates, Times and TV Info

The Cincinnati Bengals have made five straight playoff appearances. The days of them being second-class citizens to the Pittsburgh Steelers-Baltimore Ravens rivalry are over. They've won two of the last three AFC North titles, posted five or fewer losses each of the last three years and separated themselves from the Cleveland Browns in the laughingstock conversation.

Unfortunately, none of this has translated to playoff wins.

The Bengals are a yearly lesson in playoff futility, and their most recent loss may have been their most painful. Ahead 16-15 with time racing off the clock, Cincinnati made a series of errors that gave division rival Pittsburgh their wild-card matchup.

First, a fumble by running back Jeremy Hill gave the Steelers the ball back. Then an ugly Vontaze Burfict hit on wideout Antonio Brown resulted in 30 yards' worth of penalties (Adam Jones' personal foul included in that yardage) and set up a game-winning kick that sent Cincy packing.

Heading into 2016, these Bengals are a worse team on paper. They lost Mohamed Sanu and Marvin Jones to free agency, while the likes of Andre Smith, Leon Hall and Reggie Nelson also went packing. Their retention of some defensive free agents proved expensive, but this is a team with more depth issues at the least than a year ago.

Still, there's reason for optimism. Quarterback Andy Dalton looked like a different player last season before suffering an injury in Week 14 and missing the final three regular-season games and the playoffs. Receiver A.J. Green is still pretty great at football, and the Giovani Bernard-Jeremy Hill combo at running back works. There's a chance the Bengals will win back-to-back divisions for the first time in franchise history.

Let's take a look at their schedule and assess how realistic that goal is.

Schedule

Week	Date	Opponent	Time (ET)	TV
1	Sept. 11	at New York Jets	1 p.m.	CBS
2	Sept. 18	at Pittsburgh Steelers	1 p.m.	CBS
3	Sept. 25	Denver Broncos	1 p.m.	CBS
4	Sept. 29	Miami Dolphins	8:25 p.m.	NFL Network
5	Oct. 9	at Dallas Cowboys	4:25 p.m.	Fox
6	Oct. 16	at New England Patriots	1 p.m.	CBS
7	Oct. 23	Cleveland Browns	1 p.m.	CBS
8	Oct. 30	Washington	9:30 a.m.	Fox
9		Bye
10	Nov. 14	at New York Giants	8:30 p.m.	ESPN
11	Nov. 20	Buffalo Bills	1 p.m.	Fox
12	Nov. 27	at Baltimore Ravens	1 p.m.	CBS
13	Dec. 4	Philadelphia Eagles	1 p.m.	Fox
14	Dec. 11	at Cleveland Browns	1 p.m.	CBS
15	Dec. 18	Pittsburgh Steelers	8:30 p.m.	NBC
16	Dec. 24	at Houston Texans	8:25 p.m.	NFL Network
17	Jan. 1	Baltimore Ravens	1 p.m.	CBS

Analysis

Dylan Buell/Getty Images

It's always a bit of a fallacy to rely on past performances, but the Bengals' 2016 slate looks surprisingly easy for a division winner. Their .465 opponent winning percentage is the lowest of any division winner and is tied for the fourth-worst in all of football. Despite having to face the New England Patriots and Denver Broncos, their opponent percentage is the lowest among all AFC North teams.

This, of course, is thanks mostly to playing four games against the Cleveland Browns and Baltimore Ravens. The Browns and Artists Formerly Known as the Browns went a combined 8-24 last season, which isn't likely to repeat.

Sure, Cleveland will probably still be terrible. It's what the Browns do. Given the loss of nearly all their top players, it's possible they'll be worse than their 3-13 record a year ago—even after finally finding competency in their coaching staff with head coach Hue Jackson, formerly the Bengals' offensive coordinator.

The real outlier here is Baltimore, which was wildly unlucky in its 5-11 campaign. Super Bowl-winning quarterback Joe Flacco was limited to 10 games because of injury and Steve Smith Sr. to seven, and by the end of the season, the team's roster resembled a MASH unit.

Nine of the Ravens' 11 losses came by one score. Even a 50 percent decrease in injury issues would result in a much more balanced roster given the way the Ravens have rebuilt their defense.

If the North returns to a three-headed slugfest as expected, Cincy's schedule gets a little tougher. Still, it's a relatively weak schedule. The Houston Texans will be better if Brock Osweiler is a competent quarterback, but no one can be sure he is. Denver's currently looking down the barrel of Mark Sanchez being its starter, and it lost a few defensive contributors in free agency.

The only real Sharpie loss you can put on the books is a trip to New England. Otherwise, the Bengals' toughest games are 55-45 road affairs against divisional opponents.

Pivotal Matchups

Gary Landers/Associated Press

Divisions are won by beating your own. The Bengals were 5-1 against North opponents last season, and their 9-3 record against the conference tied New England for an AFC best. Since the 32-team realignment in 2002, the team with the best intradivisional record has won 13 of 14 AFC North championships.

When teams are separated by such thin margins—more than two games have decided the North just three times since its inception—head-to-head record matters even more. If the Bengals manage to go 4-2 against the division, they'll have a good chance at going back-to-back.

Outside the division, any matchup with New England is a litmus test. Like the Bengals' overtime win over the Seattle Seahawks last year, a win over the Patriots would legitimize them. One might argue this Bengals core doesn't need legitimizing. After years of playoff futility, though, there's a segment of fans who believe Cincy's a merely good team with a limited ceiling. 

The schedule is otherwise underwhelming. The Bengals easily could put together a 13-3 season or even go 14-2 if things fall the right way. They're seemingly worse this season, but that can be said for a lot of the AFC. The safest prediction is that they'll find a way to make their way into the playoffs at 11-5. 

Follow Tyler Conway (@jtylerconway) on Twitter