Bengals Playoff Picture: Week 12 provides perfect opportunity for Cincinnati

Early season woes and a two-game losing skid have put the Cincinnati Bengals in a tough spot with seven games remaining. The AFC North remains a bloodbath that the reigning division champions can't get a grasp on. Now without Joe Burrow, the Bengals are in last place in the best division in football, but have […]

John Sheeran — Cincinnati Bengals News Writer
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Early season woes and a two-game losing skid have put the Cincinnati Bengals in a tough spot with seven games remaining.

The AFC North remains a bloodbath that the reigning division champions can't get a grasp on. Now without Joe Burrow, the Bengals are in last place in the best division in football, but have another chance to capture an elusive division win that could also regain them control of their destiny.

Here's what the AFC Playoff Picture looks like entering Week 12, and where the Bengals find themselves in the chaos. 

AFC playoff picture if the season ended today:

  1. Baltimore Ravens (8-3) – 1st AFC North 
  2. Kansas City Chiefs (7-3) – 1st AFC West
  3. Jacksonville Jaguars (7-3) – 1st AFC South
  4. Miami Dolphins (7-3) – 1st AFC East
  5. Cleveland Browns (7-3) – Wild Card
  6. Houston Texans (6-4) – Wild Card
  7. Pittsburgh Steelers (6-4) – Wild Card

In the hunt:

With the Ravens and Browns winning, the AFC North has the top team in the entire conference (thanks to the Chiefs' loss on Monday Night Football) and the top Wild Card team as well.

This Sunday becomes critical in Cincinnati as Pittsburgh comes to town for the first of two meetings within the next month. The Steelers hold the last playoff spot, and the Bengals can take it from them with a win and losses from the Bills, Colts, and Broncos. 

If any one of those three teams win, the Bengals will still be on the outside looking in.

Will the Bengals make the playoffs?

Being in the hunt is better than being far too far behind, but there's almost a 90% chance the Bengals' season ends when the regular season does.

The Bengals' current playoff chances lie at 12.4% according to SumerSports.com, by far the lowest out of any AFC North team through 11 weeks. That can change with a win over Pittsburgh on Sunday, but the journey will be far from over.

Can Cincinnati win the AFC North?

You may wanna sit down for this. Not only are the Bengals still in last place in the division, the first place Ravens are atop the entire AFC right now, the same Ravens that have a 2-0 H2H record against the Bengals this year.

The Bengals' chances are essentially 0% right now, but if you'd like a real number, it's 0.4% according to SumerSports. Not great, Bob.

Bengals’ remaining schedule:

  • vs. Pittsburgh Steelers
  • at Jacksonville Jaguars
  • vs. Indianapolis Colts
  • vs. Minnesota Vikings
  • at Pittsburgh Steelers
  • at Kansas City Chiefs
  • vs. Cleveland Browns

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