The talk of the Cincinnati Bengals schedule for the 2026 season has mostly centered around the announcement that the team will travel to Europe to play the Atlanta Falcons in Madrid, Spain. It will mark the second NFL game played in Madrid after the Miami Dolphins and Washington Commanders played there during the 2025 season.
Regarding the Bengals playing in Madrid, quarterback Joe Burrow said, “The game has a lot of room to grow. Just like basketball did in the ’80s and ’90s. The Bulls kind of spearheaded that. Made it global, and hopefully the Bengals can do the same thing over the next couple of years for the NFL.”
While an international game in the middle of the season normally can make a schedule harder for a team, an NFL analyst has discovered how the Bengals schedule has “one clear advantage.”
Cincinnati Bengals Travel Advantage
A to Z Sports writer John Scheeran discovered that despite the Cincinnati Bengals playing overseas, they will still travel fewer miles than most NFL teams.
Scheeran wrote:
“Despite the transatlantic flight set for early November, Cincinnati will still be traveling fewer miles this year than most NFL clubs.
The Bengals will travel 15,177 air miles during the 2026 season. 23 other clubs will travel further in comparison.”
He added: “Cincinnati will not travel a greater distance this season than its 8,000+ mile roundtrip to and from Madrid. The reality is there won’t be many long flights outside of that week.
Houston and Miami are decent distances away from Cincy, but there are no West Coast trips on the docket this year. Playing on the road in the first place hasn’t been much trouble for the Bengals with Burrow. Including the postseason, Cincinnati is 25-18-1 with its starting QB under center in a hostile environment. Its road record since 2024 with Burrow starting is an impressive 9-4.”
Additionally, another advantage is that Cincinnati will not lose a home game as the Falcons are listed as the home team during their matchup in Madrid.
Bengals International Game
In the Cincinnati Bengals official announcement of their matchup with the Falcons in Madrid, Bengals senior writer Geoff Hobson wrote:
“The Bengals have played two international games in their history, both in London during the previous decade, with the last one a 24-10 loss to the Rams at Wembley Stadium in 2019 during head coach Zac Taylor’s first season.
It marks Taylor’s fifth overseas game with three coming as an assistant coach with Miami and the Rams. It’s also his first not in London.”
Regarding the team’s game in Madrid, head coach Zac Taylor said, “It’s an unbelievable opportunity to grow the game internationally. That’s an important part of what we do. I think it’s awesome the brand of the Bengals gets extended internationally. We’ve got a lot of great players on the team that the world will get to watch on center stage.”
While Taylor has experience coaching internationally, the game will mark quarterback Joe Burrow’s first time participating in an international game.
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