Bengals Playoff Picture: Cincinnati joins five other 7-6 AFC teams with a month to go

There are 11 teams in the AFC above .500 with four weeks to play, and the Cincinnati Bengals are one of them.  Cincinnati's two-game win streak thanks to impressive outings from Jake Browning and the new-look Bengals offense have only tightened an already intense wild card race in the conference. And with three out of […]

John Sheeran — Cincinnati Bengals News Writer
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There are 11 teams in the AFC above .500 with four weeks to play, and the Cincinnati Bengals are one of them. 

Cincinnati's two-game win streak thanks to impressive outings from Jake Browning and the new-look Bengals offense have only tightened an already intense wild card race in the conference. And with three out of the four division teams losing this past weekend, the final month of regular season ball is shaping up to be absolutely madness.

Here's an updated look on where the Bengals find themselves in all of the commotion.

AFC playoff picture if the season ended today:

  1. Baltimore Ravens (10-3) – 1st AFC North
  2. Miami Dolphins (9-4) – 1st AFC East
  3. Kansas City Chiefs (8-5) – 1st AFC West
  4. Jacksonville Jaguars (8-5) – 1st AFC South
  5. Cleveland Browns (8-5) – Wild Card
  6. Pittsburgh Steelers (7-6) – Wild Card
  7. Indianapolis Colts (7-6) – Wild Card

In the hunt:

The Ravens were the lone division leader to come out on top Sunday; classic AFC North stuff right there. Their lead on the No. 1 seed grew to a full game thanks to the Dolphins blowing a 14-point lead in the final 175 seconds. Somehow that isn't a typo.

Kansas City and Jacksonville each dropped another game as they sit just a game ahead of the second place teams in their respective divisions. It's more likely that the Chiefs end up with home-field advantage yet again than missing the playoffs entirely. Who knows what the deal is with the Jags at this point. At least Trevor Lawrence wasn't hurt too bad last week.

Below those teams are the Bengals and five other 7-6 squads. Bengals.com's Geoff Hobson relayed exactly how rare this situation is:

"Elias Sports Bureau says it is the first time in either the AFC or NFC there have been six teams at 7-6 through week 14. It's happened many years with five teams."

The Bengals wouldn't be in the midst of this anomaly without beating some of these teams along the way. They have head-to-head tiebreakers over the Colts and Bills, but AFC records will hinder the Bengals unless they find some more wins in the final three weeks of the season. Up first is their last NFC game of the year when the Minnesota Vikings come to town this Saturday.

Will the Bengals make the playoffs?

The percentage keeps rising! Cincy now has essentially a 20% chance of clinching a spot in the postseason after being at 8% this time last week, per SumerSports.com. The AFC North crown looks like it'll be Baltimore's to lose, though Cleveland is hanging in there with former Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco taking over for them.

It's still wild card or bust for the Bengals, who need some losses from the Texans and Broncos going forward. 

Bengals’ remaining schedule:

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