Bengals Will Lose a Home Game to London in 2016

For the first time since the NFL began its international series, a team in the AFC North will be losing a home game in 2016. That team resides in the state of Ohio, but it's not the Cleveland Browns -- it's the Cincinnati Bengals.

On Wednesday, the league announced the following slate of London games for 2016:

• Week 4 - October 2nd, 2016: Indianapolis Colts @ Jacksonville Jaguars (Wembley)
• Week 7 - October 23rd, 2016: NFC East Opponent @ St. Louis Rams (Twickenham)
• Week 8 - October 30th, 2016: Washington Redskins @ Cincinnati Bengals (Wembley)

The NFC East opponent that faces the Rams will be the team that finishes in the same spot in the division as the Rams do. So, if the Rams finish the season third in the NFC West, they will take on the team that finishes in third place in the NFC East. That means that it is possible that the Redskins could be the road team in back-to-back weeks next year, which would be quite an interesting storyline.

At the conclusion of the 2016 season, either 23 or 24 teams will have played in London since the inception of the International Series in 2007. The Cleveland Browns are not one of those teams, though, and I think the league missed an opportunity to feature an AFC North match-up since neither Baltimore nor Cleveland has participated in the International Series yet.