When one thinks about the games on the schedule for the Cincinnati Bengals in 2024, the mind often wanders to showdowns with AFC North rivals or even the Kansas City Chiefs.
As such, one would also expect those games — if any — to make their way onto a list of the NFL’s best matchups for next season.
But while outlining the 10 best games next year, it’s Cincinnati’s Week 8 game against the Philadelphia Eagles that makes the cut for NFL.com’s Kevin Patra:
The former Super Bowl entrants enter pivotal seasons as they strive to ascend the NFL mountain again. The health of both quarterbacks is key. Jalen Hurts played banged up last year, and it showed when the Eagles nosedived down the stretch. Joe Burrow’s November wrist injury ended his season and sideswiped any shot the Bengals had at overcoming a slow start. If both remain healthy, the QBs always give their respective teams a shot at winning a conference title.
It’s certainly a compelling showdown between would-be contenders trying to get back to a Super Bowl — and an uncommon, cross-conference matchup, at that.
In fact, this is also one of those games that is going a little overlooked compared to the usual stuff, the five primetime showdowns and some of the rare scheduling quirks that could hurt the Bengals.
Given the teams involved, in hindsight, this list could indeed look very good if the two teams can put on a game-of-the-year contender in the big late-afternoon timeslot.
