Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow on Saturday, Jan. 4, 2025. / Sam Greene/The Enquirer / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
When the 2025 NFL schedule was released, Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow took issue with two pieces of his team's forthcoming slate.
First, he wished the Bengals had a chance to play an international game, considering part of the reason he agreed to participate in the Netflix docuseries Quarterback was to grow the game overseas. And second, he was a bit annoyed that his Bengals will be playing yet another primetime game in Baltimore, this one on Thanksgiving during Week 13.
"Playing in Baltimore for the fourth straight year in prime time," the quarterback said in a recent appearance before reporters. "Maybe we can get one of those in Cincinnati. Please."
Well, NFL vice president of broadcast planning and scheduling, Mike North, thinks Burrow made a valid point.
"It's fair," he told Bengals.com's Geoff Hobson. "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."
North added that, if he could redo the timing for one game, he would "wave a magic wand" over that specific Week 13 slot, which is also the third straight year the Bengals will travel to meet the Ravens on a Thursday after playing the prior Sunday.
"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 continued. "Which puts them in the same category as all 31 other teams. Everybody is just a little disappointed in the schedule makers."
Still, though, the Nov. 27th Thanksgiving game could end up offering some franchise-high ratings for Cincinnati, so it's not all bad.
"They deserve it. You've played your way into these windows," North said of the otherwise covetable slot. "An MVP quality quarterback and superstar wide receivers, and we play exciting games. Both Ravens-Bengals games last year were spectacular. We wanted to make sure that we ended up with at least one of them in primetime this year. We got it. I'm sure Bengals fans would have preferred it in Cincinnati, but it should be fun for you guys to ruin Baltimore's Thanksgiving."