Bengals vs. Chargers in Week 13 not flexed to primetime

At 6-4, the Cincinnati Bengals were big candidates to have their Week 13 game against the Los Angeles Chargers flexed to “Sunday Night Football.”

And it turns out the NFL disagreed, instead flexing the Kansas City Chiefs vs. Denver Broncos to the timeslot.

The Bengals snapped a two-game skid in Week 12, blowing out the Las Vegas Raiders on the road and dramatically improving their playoff position.

While the Bengals were doing that, the Chargers were busy beating the Pittsburgh Steelers and moving to 6-4, just one game behind the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC West and one game behind the Bengals in overall playoff seeding due to tiebreakers.

Even without playoff implications, Joe Burrow vs. Justin Herbert, two first-rounders from 2020, is a storyline worth a national primetime spot. This is especially the case over the original Week 13 Sunday night game between struggling San Francisco and Seattle teams.

Cincinnati plays Pittsburgh this upcoming weekend, then the Chargers on December 5 at the original 1 p.m. ET timeslot.

The NFL has flexed Chiefs-Broncos in Week 13 to Sunday Night Football.

Seahawks-49ers moves to 4:25 PM ET.

— Field Yates (@FieldYates) November 23, 2021