Disclaimer: I’d be surprised if the Bengals end up 10-7. Also this isn’t doom posting or wishful thinking.

This morning I heard several sports yahoos say that if the Bengals lose on Thursday that “the hole is too deep.” I got curious and decided to look at the Bengals losing THREE more games to end at 10-7.
Amazingly making the playoffs is still fairly easy. (Not that I recommend it.) I even included the AFC winning every game against the NFC to pad their wins.

If the Bengals lose to the Ravens, Chiefs, and once to the Steelers they can make the playoffs if the Jags don’t win their division and a number of other scenarios.

The death scenarios include the Bills or Jags or one of the AFC West (non-Swifties) getting hot. Or both the Steelers and Browns also end 10-7. But if the Bengals go 10-7 this inflates their records in most cases.
The way the schedules work out there’s still a 25-50% chance to make the playoffs.
The Jags game is big.
The Ravens game doesn’t have a huge impact actually. I was surprised.

11-6 is a virtual playoff lock.

I did not go out of my way to “massage the numbers” or pick ridiculous scenarios. And even when I did the Bengals kept falling into the 7 seed.
The point is there is still a bunch of football to be played, and there are a bunch of 4-5 win teams. And sports media is talking for clicks, not accuracy.

Playoff Thingy
I’m not logging in to save the scenario. So apologies if you get something weird.