OVERVIEW
The Los Angeles Chargers will premiere their sleek, new uniforms to kick off the 2020 NFL season Week 1 in Cincinnati. It marks the first time the Bolts have played in Cincinnati since 2015.
Kickoff is set for Sunday, Sept. 13 at 1:05 pm PT. Kevin Harlan, Trent Green and Melanie Collins have the call on CBS.
Sunday marks the fourth season-opening meeting between the teams, with the Bolts holding a 3-0 all-time advantage, winning the last Week 1 matchup with the Bengals, 34-6, in 2002. Overall, the Chargers have a 20-14 record against Cincinnati, winning the last matchup, 26-21, in 2018 at StubHub Center.
The Chargers return Gus Bradley coordinating the defense after he orchestrated the unit to finish in the top-10 in passing defense for the third-straight year. Shane Steichen returns for his first full season as offensive coordinator after he led the No. 5 offense in the NFL over the final nine weeks of the 2019 season. The team also brings back all three Pro Bowl selections from last year — wide receiver Keenan Allen and defensive ends Joey Bosa and Melvin Ingram III — while adding five-time Pro Bowl guard Trai Turner in a trade with Carolina.
SERIES BREAKDOWN
| All-Time Series Record | 21-15 |
| Regular Season Series Record | 20-14 |
| Chargers All-Time at Cincinnati | 10-8 |
| All-Time at Paul Brown Stadium | 3-2 |
| Current Stream | Won, 1-game |
| Last Meeting | Dec. 9, 2018 vs. Cin. — W, 26-21 |
| Longest Chargers Win Streak | 4 games (1977-80) |
| Longest Bengals Win Streak | 3 (2010-13) |
| Last Time at Paul Brown Stadium | Sept. 20, 2015 — L, 24-19 |
| Anthony Lynn vs. Cincinnati | 1-0 |
| Lynn All-Time at Cincinnati* | 10-5 |
*Both as a player and coach (including years as assistant)
BY THE NUMBERS
3: The Chargers boast a 3-0 record against the Bengals in season openers, last winning a Week 1 contest in Cincinnati in 2002, 34-6.
15: Already one of the most prolific undrafted running backs in the passing game, Austin Ekeler needs just one more receiving touchdown to become the youngest undrafted running back in common draft era (since 1967) to reach 15 career receiving scores. He will be 25 years, 120 days on Sunday.
25,387: The Chargers will travel 25,387 miles and go 'around the world' for the fourth-straight year — the only NFL team to top 25,000 miles in each of the last four years.
2020 CAPTAINS
Earlier this week, the Los Angeles Chargers announced five captains for the season.
The captains were voted on by their teammates and feature the following players:
QB Tyrod Taylor
TE Hunter Henry
C Mike Pouncey
DE Melvin Ingram
CB Casey Hayward
Taylor, Henry and Hayward are all first-time captains for the Bolts and the latter two talked about what the honor meant to them:
"It was a huge honor," Henry said. "Kind of took me by surprise today when I found out. Huge. To be respected and voted on by your teammates means a lot. It's definitely a big honor that I'll carry proudly and definitely try to represent this team to the best of my ability. It was really cool and definitely a big honor."
"It means a lot," Hayward mentioned. "I feel like that might be the biggest honor you can have as a teammate, your guys voting you captain. There's been some really good captains around here, so I thank the guys who voted for me. Now you try to lead as much as you can during the season, especially during this pandemic, you try to lead as best you can. And that's what I'm gonna try to do, lead these guys as much as I can. I'm one of the guys who's been around here, going on my fifth year (as a Charger.) So I kinda know this organization and what they expect from leaders and what they expect from me."
THE OPPOSING VIEW
On this week's episode of Chargers Weekly, The Athletic's Paul Dehner Jr. discussed the buzz in Cincinnati surrounding the NFL debut of rookie quarterback Joe Burrow.
"The idea of seeing this guy play football for the Bengals has this fan base so excited, I don't think they even know [who they're playing Sunday]," Dehner Jr. said.
Listen to the whole interview on the Chargers Podcast Network. Among the topics: Burrow's progression during training camp, left tackle Jonah Williams making his first NFL start Sunday, Cincinnati's talented wide receiving corps, and the free agent additions on defense.
CBS Sports' Kevin Harlan and the voice of the Chargers Matt "Money" Smith also previewed Bolts-Bengals on Chargers Weekly.
