Bengals Playoff Picture: Wild Card hope persists with five weeks remaining

It took a miraculous performance out of nowhere for Jake Browning, but the Cincinnati Bengals are very much alive in the AFC playoff picture. Monday night's 34-31 overtime victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars has the Bengals in position to cause some chaos in the race for three different Wild Card spots. Their playoff odds are […]

John Sheeran — Cincinnati Bengals News Writer

Dec 5, 2023 10:05 AM EST

© Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Unio / USA TODAY NETWORK

It took a miraculous performance out of nowhere for Jake Browning, but the Cincinnati Bengals are very much alive in the AFC playoff picture.

Monday night's 34-31 overtime victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars has the Bengals in position to cause some chaos in the race for three different Wild Card spots. Their playoff odds are still pretty slim, but we're only talking about it because of what happened under the lights in Duval County.

Here's what the current playoff picture for the AFC looks like, and how much ground the Bengals still have to cover.

AFC playoff picture if the season ended today:

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

In the hunt:

Houston Texans (7-5)
Denver Broncos (6-6)
Buffalo Bills (6-6)
Cincinnati Bengals (6-6)
Los Angeles Chargers (5-7)
Las Vegas Raiders (5-7)
New York Jets (4-8)
Tennessee Titans (4-8)
New England Patriots (2-10)

The Ravens didn't even play on Sunday and they lost their No. 1 spot to the Dolphins. Losses for the Kansas City Chiefs and Jags keep them a game back from the top spot, and the Browns dropping a game bumped them down to the last Wild Card spot. The Steelers maintained their standing despite losing as well.

Trevor Lawrence's injury opens the door for a wild race in the AFC South. The Colts are barely ahead of the Texans for a Wild Card spot, and both teams are now one game back from the Jags in the divisional standings.

As for Cincinnati, they remain behind three other teams in the hunt, including the Bills despite having the head-to-head tiebreaker over them. A win over the Colts this week would shake things up even more.

Will the Bengals make the playoffs?

When you're almost at 0% probability, anything added to that is positive news. Cincy's win over Jacksonville bumps them up to an 8.8% chance at making the postseason, per SumerSports.com. They're still three games back from the Ravens and hold no tiebreakers against them, so a division title is still out of the question. Being one-game back in the Wild Card race is as good of news as they could've hoped for after the past few weeks.