The Atlanta Falcons will host the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday, Nov. 8, at 9:30 a.m. ET in Madrid, Spain, in a Week 9 game that will air on NFL Network. The matchup at Bernabéu Stadium puts Joe Burrow, Ja’Marr Chase and Bijan Robinson on the same international stage in one of the more anticipated games on the NFL’s 2026 calendar.
The game gives the league its second trip to Spain, after the Miami Dolphins beat the Washington Commanders 16-13 there a season ago. It also brings together two teams trying to reframe recent seasons: the Bengals went 6-11 last year and missed the postseason for a third straight year, while the Falcons finished 8-9 in 2025 and are coming off their eighth consecutive losing season.
Burrow and Chase have already seen Atlanta once. In a Week 7 win in 2022, Burrow threw for 481 yards, and two of his three touchdowns went to Chase. That performance now serves as the clearest recent comparison point for a Bengals offense that will again lean on its young stars when it travels overseas.
Robinson, meanwhile, has no such history against Cincinnati. The Falcons running back will face the Bengals for the first time in his career, adding another layer to a game built around players who have already become central to each team’s identity. For Atlanta, the trip offers a chance to reset after another losing season. For Cincinnati, it is another test of whether a roster built around Burrow and Chase can push back toward the postseason after three straight years on the outside.
The setting makes the stakes feel larger than a standard Week 9 matchup. Madrid will host an NFL game for the second time, and the league’s return to Spain comes with a marquee pairing that carries both novelty and urgency. The Bengals’ defense ranked 25th last season, a weakness that has helped define their recent slide and will be part of the backdrop in Bernabéu Stadium. What happens in Madrid will not settle either team’s season, but it will offer an early read on whether the Bengals schedule 2026 includes a real rebound or more of the same.
