Yesterday was a big body blow to the team (especially with Cleveland and Pittsburgh both winning). But I still think a solid regular season run is possible to still make the playoffs.
The team wasn’t healthy yesterday and I think it showed. Getting Tee back and Ja’marr at 100% is going to do wonders. The defense has had its ups and downs all year but have consistently shown an ability to bounce back. It looks rough right now but I think this team still has it in them
Thursday and Sunday will be basically must wins. It’s keeps the Bengals competitive in the devision. 2 losses makes it almost insurmountable.
Let’s be honest, Thursday is the game that determines any legit chance of doing something this season. We absolutely cant go down 0-3 in the division and get season swept by the Ravens. Season is all but over at the point, barring a TON of luck. If we win Thursday, anything is possible though.
It’s hard not to believe they were looking ahead to that game yesterday since it’s a very short week to get ready. Thank you once again NFL schedule makers /s
The New York Times (paywall) has a playoff machine. You can select every game left and see what happens. I’ve done this several times and after the Houston loss the Baltimore game is a must win. It’d still be possible to make the playoffs but they’d need so much help that it’s not practical. The AFC has thus far over-performed to the point that I cannot find a realistic scenario where a 10 win Cincinnati team makes it in. The 8th seed is as high as I can make that happen. It seems the biggest problem with losing yesterday is the Texans remaining schedule makes them now likely to occupy a playoff seed which removes numerous pathways for the Bengals. Even throwing some wild scenarios in like the Ravens or Buffalo dropping 4-5 more still has Cincinnati outside looking in after a Baltimore loss.
If we beat the Ratbirds, my optimism goes through the roof, but I view that one as a must win game.
Nope, they’re out. Texans are in instead by virtue of their easy remaining games. Everyone will look at their 1-3 start as the problem, but it was this game that they needed most, even more than division games because I believe both Texans and Bengals will be competing for that final wildcard slot and they lose the tiebreaker.
Really need 11-12 wins to make it this year, and win the division outright is probably the only route as there will be a logjam with a bunch of 10-7 teams from AFCN (all four team may finish with over 9 wins) and AFCE/AFCS (Bills/Dolphins/Jaguars/Texans) and at the end of the day, they probably lose most tiebreakers due to their dismal conference record.
Of course anything can happen but this team needs to be at full strength every game to have a chance, and it’s been plagued with consequential injuries all season.
Toughest league
It’s incredible how quickly this fan base shifts
Would you have taken 5-4 at this point after the Week 4 loss to the Titans?
I think the Ravens game Thursday determines the division winner.
No disrespect to CLE/PIT, but I felt this way regardless of yesterday’s outcomes. Just think both of those teams have glaring weaknesses that they can’t sustain the rest of the year
The next three games are all against teams that are currently in position to go to the AFC playoffs…
Anything less than 2-1 and things are going to start looking dim…
If the Bengals beat the Steelers 2x and the Browns, in addition to beating the Colts and Vikings- we will get into the playoffs at 10-7. As long as we are 3-3 in the division, we will be in.
And I do think we will win one of the Jags, Chiefs, Ravens games.
ESPN said 6% chance