‘It’s a decision worth criticizing’ — Zac Taylor’s honest admission unfortunately can’t salvage Bengals’ playoff odds
The Bengals are dangerously close to being eliminated from playoff contention.
The Cincinnati Bengals fell to 3-7 after losing 34-12to the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 11. It was an ugly game all around for the defeated team, including timeout management from the coaching side.
Cincinnati burned two of its timeouts in a drive that only resulted in three points early in the fourth quarter. One of those timeouts was wasted when the Bengals only had one yard to gain on fourth down. Head coach Zac Taylor wanted to draw the Steelers offside in front of their own crowd.
Pittsburgh stayed patient, and after commotion between Ja’Marr Chase and Jalen Ramsey, kept a 20-12 lead after Cincy could only get a field goal off on the drive. By the time the ball was back in the Bengals’ hands, they were down 27-12 with 3:22 left in the game and had one timeout remaining.
“It’s a decision worth criticizing,” Taylor said of his fourth-down plan after the game.
It’s also a microcosm of Cincinnati’s season going down the drain. There are only two teams in NFL history to have made the playoffs after starting 3-7. The 2020 Washington Football Team and the 2022 Miami Dolphins each made the playoffs at 7-9 and 9-8, respectively, but they were recent exceptions to a much larger sample of teams that missed out on the fun in January.
Bengals’ playoff chances are next to impossible following loss to Steelers
The Athletic’s NFL playoff simulator is giving the Bengals a sub-1% chance of earning a playoff spot following Sunday’s slate of Week 11 games. Their best possible record is 10-7 if they were to win out, and while that would result in a 99% chance for a playoff bid, the climb to get there is daunting.
Beating the 9-2 New England Patriots next week would only increase their chances to 1%. Popping off two in a row with a victory over the Baltimore Ravens on Thanksgiving would boost it to about 7%.
Cincinnati would need to win its next five games to have a greater than 50% chance at making the postseason. The team has won just three games all year, and two of them were in the first part of September.
Another loss wouldn’t tank the Bengals just yet, as a 9-8 record could at least give them a chance, but that would likely need to come with winning the division, and losing to the current division leader doesn’t help with that.
To say the margin for error is thin would be an understatement.
It’s not entirely over for Cincinnati, especially with Joe Burrow nearing a potential comeback, but Sunday’s loss is a damning blow in the quest to return to the playoffs.
Cincinnati Bengals News
Ja’Marr Chase offers firm response to Jalen Ramsey’s accusation following Bengals’ crushing loss against Steelers
Chase clears his name.
