Do Buccaneers Have a Big Advantage Over the Bengals? Here’s What History Says About Week 1

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are set for their Week 1 matchup against the Cincinnati Bengals very soon. The Bucs will begin preparing on Monday to take on the Bengals for their Sept. 13 showdown on the road next Sunday.

Week 1 can be a very important game for any NFL team — according to RotoWire, just 25.6% of teams that lose their Week 1 game go on to make the playoffs that year over the last 12 seasons. But winning that game is something head coach Todd Bowles has excelled at over the course of his career, and it's something his opponent in Cincinnati has really struggled with.

Here's the rundown on how both the Bucs and Bengals have fared recently during the NFL's opening weekend:

Todd Bowles Hasn't Lost in Week 1 Yet With Bucs

Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Todd Bowles looks on before a preseason game against the Jacksonville Jaguars | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Bowles is certainly a strong planner when it comes to his Week 1 opponents. He's never lost a Week 1 game as head coach of the Bucs.

Bowles is 4-0 in Week 1 as head coach of the Bucs. He's won two of those games by 15 or more points (2022, 2024) and two of them by exactly three points (2023, 2025). If you go back even further than Bowles' head-coaching tenure, the last time the Bucs lost a home opener was in their 2020 Super Bowl season, when they lost to the New Orleans Saints.

If you go back to Todd Bowles' entire head coaching tenure, including his four seasons with the Jets, Bowles is 6-2 in Week 1 — he lost the Jets' home openers in 2016 and 2017 but won them in 2015 and 2018. Overall, he has a strong record when it comes to Week 1, and that might come into favor when you factor in his opponent.

Bengals HC Zac Taylor Starts Off Slow

Cincinnati Bengals head coach Zac Taylor on the sidelines against the Philadelphia Eagles during the second half at Lincoln Financial Field. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Bengals head coach Zac Taylor, however, is a different story. He became the Bengals' head coach in 2019, and since that time, he's been relatively unsuccessful in the opening week of the season.

Taylor has a 2-5 total record in Week 1 since 2019. The only Week 1 games he's won as Bengals coach were in 2021 against the Minnesota Vikings and last year against the Cleveland Browns. The Bengals have notoriously started out slow under Taylor, and if that's the case this time around, the Bucs will certainly take advantage.

Interestingly enough, one of those wins (2021) was at home and the other (2025) was on the road, so there's no favor for either home or away. The Bucs will be on the road, which typically gives the home team the advantage, but the Bucs are perfectly average on the road under Bowles at a dead even 17-17.

The Bucs will still need to pull out all the stops and can't underestimate this talented Bengals team. But statistically, things are looking up for Tampa Bay as they hit the road on Sept. 13 to play the Bengals.

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