The Steelers then get the Browns at home in a 1 p.m. game the next week, while the Bengals come out of Spain with a few more hours to rest before the 8:20 p.m. against the Steelers.
“I’m sure there were schedules somewhere in the pile of contenders where they did have the bye the week after Madrid,” North said. “But it’s no longer a requirement. I think if you look across the league, most teams that play international games do not have their bye following.
“In the old days, quote unquote, we really tried to learn about the inconvenience or the additional travel considerations for international games. I know it’s not quite routine, but it’s getting to the point where it’s pretty routine. You play an afternoon (game) over there, it’s morning over here, you’re back in the facility by what? Midnight Sunday night? That’s better than if it’s played out in Seattle or Los Angeles … That’s the new normal for us.”
Also normal for the Bengals (and they won’t like this in Pittsburgh or Baltimore), are back-to-back home games to finish the season when they host the Ravens and Browns. This year. they’re the only team in the division that finishes with two North home games, as well two home AFC North prime-time games. And they very well could get all three in prime time with that Week 18 game against Cleveland TBD.
“I don’t want to say it’s theirs to lose, but we’ll see what happens when we get there,” North said. “That’s what those TBD pools are for. Get the games that matter the most, that deserve to get the most exposure. Get them one extra national appearance for the playoffs to start.”
If the NFL loves anything more than an MVP quarterback like Burrow, it’s a nest of late division games. North, a disciple of NFL guru Howard Katz and his division of December labor concept, likes the looks of the Bengals playing three North games in the last month starting in Cleveland on Dec. 6.
And, how about a matchup of two MVP-caliber guys? For the fourth time in the Burow Era, the NFL puts him against Mahomes in December. It’s also one of those, though, where people watch the replays on NFL Network in July.
“(Burrow) is a game-changer in this league. There’s no real hesitation that we talked about to save some of the big ones for late in the season,” North said. “Wave a magic wand, maybe move the Kansas City game up a little earlier … I’m sure FOX maybe would prefer that KC-Cincy game a little bit earlier.
“It’s hard to point to any games and say, ‘Oh, that one’s not going to matter.”
Like the universe, there’s a lot of randomness here. Which is exactly what North calls the Bengals’ opening act of seven straight 1 p.m. games to start the season.
“We have been having this discussion a lot lately. Are we killing the golden goose, and is the Sunday 1 o’clock window becoming diminished by all the games being pulled out for Sunday mornings and Wednesdays and Fridays, Christmas and Saturdays?” North said. “I think that’s a pretty good indicator that there’s still quality inventory for the Sunday 1 o’clock window. Cincy-Pitt, for instance. The first of the Cincy- Baltimore games. Those games are still typically worthy of a prime-time slot.
“They might end up in 50% or 60% of the country at 1o’clock on CBS or Fox. You’re probably going to get the same 20 million viewers watching then. I think it’s pretty good indicator you can’t put every game in prime, and there’s nothing wrong with putting some big games on Sunday at 1 o’clock.”
