How to watch Sunday Night Football: Bengals vs Chargers everything you need to know

Los Angeles Chargers Justin Herbert
Los Angeles Chargers Justin Herbert (Image credit: Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)

After a full afternoon of watching the various games via the NFL on Fox and CBS, the whole country gets to tune into a marquee matchup to end their weekend with Sunday Night Football on NBC.

How to watch Sunday Night Football

US: NBC (live TV streaming services) | Peacock | NFL Plus
UK: Sky TV | NFL Games Pass
Watch abroad with a VPN

One of three weekly primetime games along with Thursday Night Football and Monday Night Football, Sunday Night Football is set to feature many of the league's best teams and exciting matchups. NBC will also host a few special non-Sunday night broadcasts throughout the year that will be handled by the Sunday Night Football team.

Here is everything you need to know about how to watch Sunday Night Football to get yourself ready for a full season of action.

How to watch Sunday Night Football in the US

NBC is widely available to viewers across the US via their local NBC stations. If you subscribe to traditional cable, catching the game is simple, as NBC is included on all basic cable packages. You can also watch the games on the NBC Sports app or at NBCSports.com when you provide your TV provider login.

NBC is also available on live TV streaming services like Fubo, Hulu with Live TV, Sling TV and YouTube TV. Each of these offers a mix of channel packages and services. We think Sling TV offers the best value for Sunday Night Football fans. You can watch Sunday Night Football on Sling TV Blue, which goes for $40 per month.

Streaming of the game is also available through Peacock, which live-streams NBC's Sunday Night Football game every week.

As a nationally televised game, Sunday Night Football is also going to be available to live stream on NFL Plus, but only through a mobile device.

How to watch Sunday Night Football in the UK

NFL fans in the UK have the opportunity to watch Sunday Night Football games and other NBC NFL broadcasts via Sky Sports' NFL Channel, which is available through a Sky TV subscription.

If that's too late (or early) for you, NFL Game Pass is an option. The international version of this subscription service offers live broadcasts of games as well as the opportunity to watch the full broadcast on-demand or a condensed version of the broadcast that only features the plays.

How to watch Sunday Night Football from anywhere

If you're going to be away from your normal TV setup but still want to watch Sunday Night Football, you might run into some problems. Thankfully, you can solve this exact issue with a Virtual Private Network (VPN).

A VPN lets you change your IP address to that of the area of what you want to watch, meaning you can tune in to your favorite events or other content even if you're not there. Our favorite is NordVPN, which is the No. 1-rated VPN in the world right now according to our sister site, TechRadar.

How to use a VPN to watch any stream:

  • Download the app at NordVPN
  • Choose the location of the streaming service you want to watch (UK, US, etc)
  • Navigate to the streaming service and start watching!
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Sunday Night Football: Bengals vs Chargers

It's still too early for it to be a de facto elimination game, but there is likely going to be a playoff-like atmosphere for the Sunday Night Football game between the Cincinnati Bengals and Los Angeles Chargers because the two teams are battling it out for a wild card spot.

The Bengals have had plenty of struggles this season that see them come into week 11 at 4-6, but the talent to make a second-half run for the playoffs is there. Joe Burrow and Ja'Marr Chase are leading the league in passing yards and receiving yards, a problem is the next closest receiver on the Bengals trailer Chase by nearly 600 yards, as their second best receiver, Tee Higgins, has missed half of their games. For as good as Burrow has been at passing the ball, the Bengals have struggled to run the football, ranking 29th in the league with 89.7 rushing yards per game. Defense has also been unreliable, allowing nearly 350 yards per game, struggling to get a pass rush (aside from Trey Hendrickson) and middle of the pack against the run. Can Burrow carry them to the postseason, or will they need others to step up?

It'll be a tough test against the Chargers, who field one of the league's best defenses, which is particularly good against the pass, allowing less than 200 yards passing per game, with more than 30 sacks on the season. The Chargers offense haven't blown any doors off this season (their highest point total in a game is 27 so far), but they haven't needed to, as they rely on their defense and protecting the ball (second best turnover differential in the league) to win. In fact, quarterback Justin Herbert has only thrown one interception this season. Can they grind their way into the playoffs?

Sunday Night Football schedule

Here is the schedule for Sunday Night Football's 2024 slate of games. Unless otherwise noted, all games start at 8:20 pm ET/5:20 pm PT. We've also included other special games that Sunday Night Football team is handling throughout the season:

  • NFL Kickoff (Thursday, September 5): Baltimore Ravens 20, Kansas City Chiefs 27
  • Week 1: Los Angeles Rams 20, Detroit Lions 26
  • Week 2: Chicago Bears 13, Houston Texans 19
  • Week 3: Kansas City Chiefs 22, Atlanta Falcons 17
  • Week 4: Buffalo Bills 10, Baltimore Ravens 35
  • Week 5: Dallas Cowboys 20, Pittsburgh Steelers 17
  • Week 6: Cincinnati Bengals 17, New York Giants 7
  • Week 7: New York Jets 15, Pittsburgh Steelers 37
  • Week 8: Dallas Cowboys 24, San Francisco 49ers 30
  • Week 9: Indianapolis Colts 13, Minnesota Vikings 21
  • Week 10: Detroit Lions 26, Houston Texans 23
  • Week 11: Cincinnati Bengals vs Los Angeles Chargers
  • Week 12: Philadelphia Eagles vs Los Angeles Rams
  • Thanksgiving Game (Thursday, November 28): Miami Dolphins vs Green Bay Packers
  • Week 13: San Francisco 49ers vs Buffalo Bills
  • Week 14: Los Angeles Chargers vs Kansas City Chiefs
  • Week 15: Green Bay Packers vs Seattle Seahawks
  • Week 16: Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs Dallas Cowboys
  • Week 17: Miami Dolphins vs Cleveland Browns
  • Week 18: TBD

Some of these games could be fluid, as the NFL allows flex scheduling for Sunday Night Football to try and ensue good games are airing in primetime. Between weeks 5-10, up to two games can be flexed, while from weeks 11-17 it can be done for any game at the NFL's discretion.

Sunday Night Football commentators

The lead voice in the Sunday Night Football booth is Mike Tirico, joined by Cris Collinsworth in the booth. Melissa Stark rounds out the crew as the sideline reporter.

NBC's Sunday Night Football coverage also consists of the Football Night in America pregame show, which features Maria Taylor as host and Tony Dungy, Rodney Harrison, Jason Garrett, Chris Simms and Mike Florio as commentators.

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Michael Balderston

Michael Balderston is a DC-based entertainment and assistant managing editor for What to Watch, who has previously written about the TV and movies with TV Technology, Awards Circuit and regional publications. Spending most of his time watching new movies at the theater or classics on TCM, some of Michael's favorite movies include Casablanca, Moulin Rouge!, Silence of the Lambs, Children of Men, One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest and Star Wars. On the TV side he enjoys Only Murders in the Building, Yellowstone, The Boys, Game of Thrones and is always up for a Seinfeld rerun. Follow on Letterboxd.