NFL flexes Bengals-Chargers to ‘Sunday Night Football’ in Week 11 instead of Colts-Jets - The Athletic

The NFL announced Monday it will flex the Week 11 game between the Cincinnati Bengals and Los Angeles Chargers in California to NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” for an 8:20 p.m. ET kickoff. As a result, the New York Jets will now host the Indianapolis Colts outside of prime time at 1 p.m. ET on CBS.

In Jim Harbaugh’s first season in Los Angeles, the Chargers (5-3) have bolstered one of the league’s stingiest defenses and quarterback Justin Herbert has come on strong following the team’s Week 5 bye. The Bengals (4-5) are fighting to be in the playoff mix with quarterback Joe Burrow and wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase leading the way.

The flexed game with give each team back-to-back prime time games against the Baltimore Ravens — Cincinnati will play Baltimore on “Thursday Night Football” in Week 10 and Los Angeles will be on “Monday Night Football” in Week 12 against the Ravens.

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This is the second “Sunday Night Football” flex of the season with the first coming in Week 9 as the Colts-Minnesota Vikings matchup got moved to prime time. This time, the Colts will be moved to a day game against a Jets team that has already had its fair share of games under the lights in 2024.

The NFL implemented flexible scheduling for “Sunday Night Football” in 2006. This procedure allows for impactful matchups on Sunday night in all weeks and allows for teams to play their way into primetime games. In the 2024 season, this can also be used for ESPN’s “Monday Night Football” as well as Amazon Prime’s “Thursday Night Football” on a trial basis. Only Sunday afternoon games are eligible to be moved to prime-time spots.

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In the case of “Sunday Night Football,” it may be used only twice in Weeks 5-10 and at the NFL’s discretion from Weeks 11-17. From Weeks 5-13, the change has to be announced no later than 12 days in advance of the game, while from Weeks 14-17 the decision will be made no later than six days from the game. The Week 18 game is determined at the conclusion of Week 17.

(Photo: Jason Miller / Getty Images)

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RJ Kraft is a NFL Staff Editor for The Athletic. Before joining The Athletic, RJ worked at The Sporting News, NASCAR Digital Media and Hendrick Motorsports. He is a graduate of Elon University and hails from New Jersey.