{"id":736745,"date":"2026-02-07T23:34:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-07T23:34:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/736745\/"},"modified":"2026-02-07T23:34:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-07T23:34:12","slug":"bengals-joe-flacco-return-could-hinge-on-vikings-steelers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/736745\/","title":{"rendered":"Bengals\u2019 Joe Flacco return could hinge on Vikings, Steelers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Feb. 7, 2026, 5:46 p.m. ET<\/p>\n

The Cincinnati Bengals<\/a> want Joe Flacco back.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That much is obvious without little intel, but it doesn\u2019t hurt that Bengals<\/a> head coach Zac Taylor and others within the team signaled as much around the end of the season.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But as a new report points out, teams like the Minnesota Vikings and Pittsburgh Steelers could cause the Bengals some problems on this front.\u00a0<\/p>\n

According to ESPN\u2019s Jeremy Fowler and Dan Graziano<\/a>, the Bengals have already attempted to make progress on the Flacco front, but other teams could get in the way:\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cBut Flacco will have options, possibly as a bridge quarterback elsewhere. The Vikings considered signing Flacco last offseason. And the Steelers will have an opening if Aaron Rodgers doesn’t re-sign there. Pittsburgh liked his free agency profile last offseason, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Need a news break? Check out the all new PLAY hub with puzzles, games and more!<\/a><\/p>\n

RELATED:Bengals sound ready to leave comfort zone, do contract extension early<\/a><\/p>\n

Flacco himself has made it pretty clear he wants to keep playing, though the right opportunity would have to present itself.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Teams like the Vikings and Steelers give Flacco the best chance at finding another starting gig. So, too, could injuries or other happenings over the summer and preseason.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But if a starting gig doesn\u2019t open up elsewhere, one would have to imagine the Bengals would still present the best option for Flacco, given how well he meshed with the offensive weapons and overall locker room at this stage of his career.\u00a0<\/p>\n

RELATED:Bengals cap space outlook changes with NFL salary cap update<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Feb. 7, 2026, 5:46 p.m. ET The Cincinnati Bengals want Joe Flacco back.\u00a0 That much is obvious without…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":736746,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2073],"tags":[95878,7,233,259,2529,6,13078,95905,96675,95882,95913,95892,96119,95896,95888,95895,95899,95883,95881,234],"class_list":{"0":"post-736745","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-minnesota-vikings","8":"tag-accessfree","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-minnesota","11":"tag-minnesota-vikings","12":"tag-minnesotavikings","13":"tag-nfl","14":"tag-sstssportsnflbengals","15":"tag-sstsnbengals","16":"tag-tagaaron-rodgers","17":"tag-tagamerican-football","18":"tag-tagcincinnati-bengals","19":"tag-tagespn-inc","20":"tag-tagjoe-flacco","21":"tag-tagnational-sports","22":"tag-tagnfl","23":"tag-tagnfl-hub","24":"tag-tagoverall-neutral","25":"tag-tagsports-news","26":"tag-typestory","27":"tag-vikings"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116031971097312711","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/736745","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=736745"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/736745\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/736746"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=736745"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=736745"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=736745"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}