Cincinnati Bengals NFL schedule roasts opponents with Pokemon

The Cincinnati Bengals used the love of franchise QB Joe Burrows Pokémon franchise as a way to reveal and toast who they will face in the 2026 NFL season. The Bengals used various animals from Pokémon series to outline their upcoming opponents, with some notable upsets from their three AFC North division rivals.

Although the Cincinnati QB is known for his competitiveness and leadership on the gridiron, Burrow is also an avid Pokémon fan. During the 2025 NFL season, Burrow stated that he was a fan of Pokemon Trading Card Game. Burrow said he found the current culture of tearing up decks of cards to grade and sell to be “a weird one” that has taken off on social media. Burrow also revealed that some of his favourites Pokémon cards are from older generations and named Mewtwo, Zapdos, and Blaziken among his top picks.

NFL opponents compared to Pokemon

Even though the 2026 NFL season is still four months away as of this writing, that hasn't stopped the Bengals from having a little fun at their opponents' expense. The Bengals took to Twitter to reveal the opponents they will face in the upcoming season. In addition, the Bengalis used images from Pokémon franchise as a way to toast or compliment their NFL opponents. For starters, the Trash Bag Pokemon named Trubbish was used to describe one of the Bengals' oldest enemies, the Cleveland Browns. Although the Bengals finished the 2025 NFL season 6-11 and missed the playoffs, the Browns fared worse with a 5-12 record. As AFC North division foes, the Bengals will face the Browns twice during the 2026 NFL season, with one game in Cincinnati and the other in Cleveland.

Cincinnati Bengals 2026 NFL season opponent as Pokemon

• Cleveland Browns – Trubbish

• Pittsburgh Steelers – Klang

• Miami Dolphins – Magikarp

• Kansas City Chiefs – Zebstrika

• Jacksonville Jaguars – Persian

• Tennessee Titans – Shiny Aegislash

• New Orleans Saints – Serperior

• Tampa Bay Buccaneers – Dhelmise

• Houston Texans – Tauros

• Indianapolis Colts – Ponyta

• Atlanta Falcons – Pidgey

• Carolina Panthers – Luxray

• Washington Commanders – Lechonk

• Baltimore Ravens – TM27 (return)

For the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Gen 5 Steel-type Pokemon called Klang was used as a fitting description, due to Pittsburgh's longtime nickname of Steel City. Other Pokemon the Bengals are introducing as facsimiles for the teams they will face this coming NFL season include Magikarp for the Miami Dolphins, Persian for the Jacksonville Jaguars and Gen 9 Hog Pokemon Lechonk for the Washington Commanders. Lechonk's inclusion is a reference to Major Tuddy, the Commanders' costume mascot introduced in 2023.

However, the Bengals used an odd point of comparison for one of their fiercest division rivals, the Baltimore Ravens. Instead of using a raven-like Pokemon like Murkrow or Corviknight, the Bengals chose TM27 (Return) as a description of their Baltimore-based foes. In most of them Pokémon game, Return is a normal type move that becomes more powerful if the user has a high friendship rating with their trainer. Although Return can be a nice TM to use in Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreenit hasn't been a useful move since Gen 8 onwards. It is currently unclear why Return was selected to represent the Ravens on the Bengals' schedule.

In response to the Bengali's Pokémon In comparisons, some fans compared the Cincinnati NFL squad to powerful Fire-type Pokémon like Incineroar and Arcanine. The Bengals and the rest of the NFL's teams will see their full schedules, including dates and kickoff times, revealed during a special NFL Network presentation on Thursday, May 14 at 8:00 PM Eastern.