Cincinnati Bengals fans don’t have many NFC teams they despise, but the San Francisco 49ers might be the exception. The third-place squad of the NFC West is traveling to the Queen City this weekend to take on the hot-n-cold Bengals.
This meeting isn’t the 17th game on the schedule, but it is the game that’s been added on top of the now outdated 16-game slate the league has used for decades. Since the 49ers and Bengals faced each other’s divisions two years ago and finished last in their respective divisions last year, this was determined to be the Bengals’ fifth and final inter-conference matchup of the season.