The Cincinnati Bengals are having a nice season but don't put them in the playoffs just yet

Not so fast, Cincinnati.

The Cincinnati Bengals are 7-5, currently the sixth seed in the AFC playoff picture. If the season ended today, their five-year postseason drought would be no longer. Furthermore, a division title is still at play with the Baltimore Ravens just a game ahead of them in the AFC North.

So if (when?) the Bengals miss the playoffs this year, it’d be wrong to get too down on them. In fact, this season has already been a success. Their rebuild – one that officially started when they parted with former franchise quarterback Andy Dalton after the 2019 season – is clearly ahead of schedule. 

Wait, miss the playoffs?

That’s right. While the Bengals have been one of the more surprising teams of the 2021 season, already surpassing their preseason over/under of 6.5 wins with five games remaining, they still have one of the most difficult schedules remaining in the NFL.

According to Tankathon.com, the Bengals’ remaining opponents’ combined win percentage of .567 makes their schedule the sixth-toughest. They still have to play the San Francisco 49ers, Denver Broncos, Baltimore Ravens, Kansas City Chiefs and Cleveland Browns; not a single team with a losing record, and two division foes. And possibly the easiest of those matchups, the Broncos and Browns, are both road games. 

Their -110 odds to miss the playoffs are the same as their odds to make the playoffs on Tipico Sportsbook. The Ravens (-150) are still clear favorites to win the AFC North over the Bengals (+260). And the more established Browns and Pittsburgh Steelers aren’t out of it, either. It’s completely plausible for Cincinnati to finish the season with a 9-8 record, or worse, and be on the outside of the playoff picture when it’s all said and done. 

And that would be completely fine.

The Bengals are just two years removed from a two-win season that landed them the top overall pick in the 2020 draft. They took 2019 Heisman winner Joe Burrow with that pick, signaling the official start of their rebuild going into head coach Zac Taylor’s second season. 

Burrow was a fine looking rookie last year but suffered a torn ACL and MCL in his 10th game of the season. He completed rehab in time to be ready for the start of this season, but many people were down on the team’s decision to draft his former LSU teammate, wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase, with the fifth overall pick this year instead of bringing Burrow more protection on the offensive line.

So far, that decision has paid off, with Chase having made an early case for NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year. His +425 odds to win the award only trail New England Patriots quarterback Mac Jones (-699). But of late, his play has tailed off and so has that of the Bengals.

Since their huge win over the Ravens on Oct. 24, the Bengals are just 2-3. That includes a terrible loss to the New York Jets the following week and a blowout loss to the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday where they turned the ball over four times. 

Not to get too down on them, the Bengals had won consecutive blowouts before Sunday’s loss, and they even climbed out of 24-0 hole before eventually succumbing to the Chargers. But their inconsistencies – whether along the offensive line, from the quarterback, a rookie wide receiver or the defense – were predictable. A symptom of a team in transition learning how to be winners.

What wasn’t expected was a playoff push this season. So however it ends for the Bengals, they’ve already proven how bright the future is in Cincinnati.

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