In Week 2, The Cincinnati Bengals play the Bears at 1:00 pm on Sunday, September 19th on Fox. This guide will explain how to watch every Cincinnati Bengals game this season regardless of where you live. You don’t even need cable. This guide will cover how you can watch all 18 weeks of regular season football.
Best Solution inside Bengals TV Market: If you live in the Bengals TV market, fuboTV (free trial) is your best option. This streaming service provides live access to all the channels you need to watch every Bengals game: Fox, NBC, CBS, and NFL Network. They also have ESPN, so you can watch Monday Night Football.
Best Solution when living Outside the Bengals TV Market: While fuboTV will provide access to nationally televised Bengals games on Fox, NBC, and NFL Network, Bengals games may not air in your area if they aren’t on a national broadcast that week. In those cases, you may have to use this blackout workaround.
Watch The Bengals Online (Live Inside TV Market)
As you can see by the 2021 Bengals Schedule at the end of this article, the Bengals will play on a combination of NBC, CBS, Fox, and NFL Network. Below are your options for watching Bengals games.
Best Option – fuboTV
fuboTV offers subscribers local and cable TV channels just as if you subscribed to a cable TV package. The live TV streaming service provides all the channels you need to watch the Bengals this season, including Fox, NBC, CBS, and NFL Network. You can watch Bengals games through fuboTV online or on your TV using a supported streaming device like a Roku or Fire TV Stick. I recommend checking their website to find the channels they offer in your area using this link.
FuboTV offers a One Week Free Trial, but there is no contract, so you can cancel any time. If you cancel during your free trial, you will not be charged at all. Here are some features included with your subscription to fuboTV:
- live local CBS, FOX, ABC, and NBC broadcast in nearly all of the country along with NFL Network and ESPN.
- a cloud DVR for recording games
- stream to 3 devices at once (can upgrade to more)
The monthly cost of fuboTV currently starts at $64.99. For more information on this streaming service, see our guide to fuboTV.
fuboTV is available on Android, iOS, Xbox One, 4th Gen Apple TV, Chromecast, Roku, and Amazon Fire TV and stick. There is no contract when you sign up, so you can cancel any time you like.
Other Options
Below are some other TV streaming services and options to watch the Bengals this season.
Hulu Live TV
Hulu Live TV carries ESPN, NFL Network, Fox, CBS, ABC, and NBC. You can check to see which channels are available to you by entering your zip code on Hulu’s channel finder.
Hulu Live TV starts with a 1-week free trial and costs $64.99 per month after the trial. You can cancel any time without penalty as there is no long-term contract. The list below shows some of what Hulu + Live TV has to offer:
- live local ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, and more in most markets of the country
- Carries, ESPN, NBC, FOX, and CBS so you can watch the Bengals
- Live access to popular channels found on cable. See Hulu’s channel lineup for a full list.
- 50 hours of cloud DVR storage. You can upgrade to 200 hours and fast-forward through recorded commercials for an additional $9.99 per month.
- Comes with 6 customizable profiles
- Watch Hulu on 2 screens at once. Watch on unlimited screens for an additional $9.99 per month
- Includes all the on-demand access you normally receive with standard Hulu. This includes Hulu Originals.
YouTube TV
YouTube TV also offers ESPN, Fox, NBC, CBS, and NFL Network, so you can watch every Bengals game if you live in the Bengals broadcast area. The service costs $64.99 a month. The live streaming service also includes a DVR and supports a host of streaming devices. Youtube TV supports Android, iOS, Apple TV, Fire TV, Chromecast, and more. The YouTube TV app isn’t available on Roku. However, users can use YouTube TV through the YouTube app on Roku devices. Like the other services, YouTube TV offers a free trial, cloud DVR, local broadcast channels, and many other features. Please read our review of YouTube TV for more details on their service.
DIRECTV Stream
DIRECTV Stream is a live streaming service that carries ESPN, Fox, NBC, ABC, and CBS, which will let you watch Bengals games. However, DIRECTV Stream doesn’t offer NFL Network, which you may need to watch Thursday Night Football. ESP, Fox, CBS, NBC, and ABC are available in DIRECTV Stream’s “Entertainment” channel plan for $69.99 per month. You can sign up online, and you get a full refund if you cancel within your first 14 days. They don’t force you into a contract, and you can cancel at any time.
The service also includes a cloud DVR service and allows you to stream to 20 devices simultaneously. DIRECTV Stream is supported on Apple TV, Chromecast, Fire TV, iOS, Android, Roku, and more. See our review of DIRECTV Stream for more details on this streaming service.
Local Channels Only
If you don’t mind missing out on Monday Night Football on ESPN and Thursday Night Football on NFL Network, then you may get away with using a TV Antenna to provide your local NBC, CBS, Fox, and ABC stations.
If you live near network broadcast towers, you can watch games airing on CBS, NBC, Fox, and ABC free if you have a TV antenna. I recommend purchasing a TV antenna like the GE Ultra Edge antenna. As we said in our review of the GE Ultra Edge Indoor antenna, it provides a money-back guarantee with no questions asked if you purchase through Amazon. Purchasing an inexpensive antenna with a money-back guarantee eliminates the risk of paying too much for an antenna, setting it up, and realizing you cannot get reception for local channels TV. You can see our guide to using a TV antenna for more details.
Paramount+
Paramount+ is a streaming service from ViacomCBS. The streaming service provides games airing in your region on CBS. So you will be able to watch the Bengals if they air on CBS that week. However, you would miss out on any games airing on ESPN, Fox, or NBC. To see if your local CBS channel is available on their service, you can check out their free trial. You can subscribe to Paramount+ for as little as $4.99 per month and have access to the NFL on CBS. See our review of Paramount+ for more information on the service.
Watch The Bengals Online (Live Outside TV Market)
If you live outside the Bengals TV market, the recommended solution above (fuboTV) will only provide access to nationally televised games (Thursday Night, Sunday Night, and Monday Night Football) airing on ESPN, NFL Network, and NBC. If you want to watch the Bengals live but don’t live in the Bengals TV market, our recommended Solution is NFL Gamepass, but you need to use the following blackout workaround.
Blackout Workaround
NFL Game Pass is very limited If you live in the US. However, NFL Game Pass International will not only let you watch the Bengals but every single game from every single team this season. While Game Pass International isn’t available to you if you live inside the U.S, there is a way around this problem. You can use a VPN service outside the US to get your computer an IP address outside the US. Then, you won’t be blocked from using NFL Game Pass. You can do this with a VPN like IPVanish by following these steps:
- Sign up for IPVanish.
- Once you sign up, install the IPVanish client. After that, it’s simply a matter of starting the client, logging in, and click India as your location on the map to turn on the VPN.
- Your computer now looks like it’s in India.
- Clear your browser cache. This is important in case Game Pass stored a location cookie on your system
- Go to https://www.nflgamepass.com/. When you click “Sign Up Now” you should be redirected to the Game Pass International page where you can sign up. Notice this page says, “All games LIVE.” You even get a free trial to test this out. I suggested India as a location since it seems to be much cheaper than other parts of the world, but you can experiment with different countriels if you like.
Bengals 2021 TV Schedule
The Bengals 2021 TV schedule is in the table below, along with the game’s TV network.
(*) – indicated a flex week game that is subject to change
(Local) – indicates a preseason game that will air on the local CBS or Fox affiliate
| Week | Date | Time (ET) | Opponent | Network |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | Sun, Sep 19 | 1:00 PM | Bears | Fox |
| 3 | Sun, Sep 26 | 1:00 PM | Steelers | CBS |
| 4 | Mon, Sep 27 | 8:20 PM | Jaguars | NFLN |
| 5 | Sun, Oct 10 | 1:00 PM | Packers | Fox |
| 6 | Sun, Oct 17 | 1:00 PM | Lions | Fox |
| 7 | Sun, Oct 24 | 1:00 PM | Ravens | CBS |
| 8 | Sun, Oct 31 | 1:00 PM | Jets | CBS |
| 9 | Sun, Nov 7 | 1:00 PM | Browns | CBS |
| 11 | Sun, Nov 21 | 4:05 PM | Raiders | CBS |
| 12 | Sun, Nov 28 | 1:00 PM | Steelers | CBS |
| 13 | Sun, Dec 5 | 1:00 PM | Chargers | Fox |
| 14 | Sun, Dec 12 | 1:00 PM | 49ers | CBS |
| 15 | Sun, Dec 19 | 4:05 PM | Broncos | CBS |
| 16 | Sun, Dec 26 | 1:00 PM | Ravens | CBS |
| 17 | Sun, Jan 2 | 1:00 PM | Chiefs | CBS |
| 18 | Sun, Jan 9 | 1:00 PM | Browns | CBS |
For information on other teams or nationally broadcast games, please see our article How To Watch The NFL without Cable.
If this article didn't answer your specific question, head over to our Home Page! It will guide you to affordable internet providers, streaming services to meet your needs, information on antennas, and many more tools and resources to help you save money on TV and Internet access.
For tips and tricks on cutting the cord and other tech topics be sure to join our Facebook Page.