Bengals Playoff Picture: It's now or never for Cincinnati

As bad as Saturday's loss felt for the Cincinnati Bengals, the season is not yet over. The AFC playoff race is down to the final stretch with five spots still up for grabs. The Bengals have a slight chance to obtain one of the bottom two seeds, and a handful of others are one step ahead of […]

John Sheeran — Cincinnati Bengals News Writer
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As bad as Saturday's loss felt for the Cincinnati Bengals, the season is not yet over. 

The AFC playoff race is down to the final stretch with five spots still up for grabs. The Bengals have a slight chance to obtain one of the bottom two seeds, and a handful of others are one step ahead of them.

Below is an updated look at the playoff picture for the AFC with Week 16 officially in the books.

AFC playoff picture if the season ended today:

  1. Baltimore Ravens (12-3) – 1st AFC North
  2. Miami Dolphins (11-4) – 1st AFC East
  3. Kansas City Chiefs (9-6) – 1st AFC West
  4. Jacksonville Jaguars (8-7) – 1st AFC South
  5. Cleveland Browns (10-5) – Wild Card
  6. Buffalo Bills (9-6) – Wild Card
  7. Indianapolis Colts (8-7) – Wild Card

In the hunt:

The playoff picture is starting to come into its final form with two weeks remaining. Baltimore asserted itself as the top team in the entire league by beating the 49ers by 14 on the road (that sounds familiar to Cincinnati). Miami remains in the hunt for the No. 1 seed as well. Guess which two teams face each other next weekend?

Below the top two teams is a gigantic mess. Kansas City is treading water, though they're all but surely going to win the AFC West yet again and host at least one playoff game. Patrick Mahomes and Co. are just 3-4 in Arrowhead Stadium this season. That outta give Cincinnati a glimpse of hope for Week 17's New Year's Eve battle.

Record-wise, Cincinnati is tied or ahead of every team aside from a resurgent Buffalo squad and the Joe Flacco renaissance in Cleveland. Tiebreakers make the battle extremely uphill to overtake the numerous teams ahead of them at the moment. 

Will the Bengals make the playoffs?

As Week 17 nears, the Bengals fittingly have a 17% chance of making the postseason, per New York Times. Winning in Pittsburgh would've bumped that percentage up incredulously. Instead, they're down towards the bottom with other long shots. Here's how they compare to other teams in the hunt:

  • Browns: >99%
  • Bills: 90%
  • Colts: 55%
  • Texans: 33%
  • Bengals: 17%
  • Steelers: 14%
  • Raiders: 14%
  • Broncos: 6%

You can pencil in the Browns and Bills for two Wild Card spots at this point. The No. 7 seed will end up going towards a team no better than 10-7. That's still doable for the Bengals, but they're truly on their last leg at this rate. Beat the Chiefs, beat the Browns, and there's a chance at partaking in Wild Card Weekend. 

The margin of error is officially gone. We'll find out next Sunday if Cincinnati's playoff odds are next to evaporate.

Bengals’ remaining schedule:

  • at Kansas City Chiefs
  • vs. Cleveland Browns

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