Bengals Playoff Scenario: What do Joe Burrow and teammates need heading into Week 14? 

The Cincinnati Bengals' postseason aspirations were negatively impacted by their Week 13 performance if anything.

After losing to the Pittsburgh Steelers 44-38 on Sunday, Cincinnati needed the Denver Broncos to lose to the Cleveland Browns on Monday to actively remain in the playoff race. But Denver won, and the Bengals' hopes of making the playoffs are now severely damaged.

Given the state of the AFC standings of the teams ahead of them, it is difficult to see the Bengals making it to the postseason. However, Joe Burrow and Co. still have a mathematical chance to qualify for the playoffs.

Bengals' playoff scenario after going 4-8

The loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 13 confirmed that the Bengals can no longer win the AFC North division title. Even if the Bengals were to win their remaining games and the Steelers lost theirs, they would both end the season at 9-8. However, that would mean Pittsburgh has lost to the Baltimore Ravens, a team currently at 8-5 and has swept the Bengals this year.

So, the division is officially out of reach for Cincinnati, but they can still be able to secure a Wild Card position.

They already have a head-to-head tiebreaker disadvantage against the Ravens and Chargers, two of the three teams currently holding AFC Wild Card positions with eight victories apiece.

The Bengals' chances of making the playoffs are further hampered by the fact that they have already suffered six conference losses this season. They will still get to play the Denver Broncos, the current No. 7 seed in the AFC, but if they lose any more games before or after that, they will virtually be eliminated from postseason contention.

Cincinnati Bengals' playoff scenario explored

According to Sportskeeda's Playoff Predictor, the Cincinnati Bengals will only win two of their final five games and finish with a 6-11 record, which is disappointing given the lofty standards that were placed on them before the season. They would inevitably miss out on the playoffs for the second straight season due to their 6-11 record.

Sportkeeda's Playoff Predictor

According to the predictor tool, Cincinnati would place third in the AFC North, behind the Baltimore Ravens and Pittsburgh Steelers, and 10th in the AFC rankings.

Sportkeeda's Playoff Predictor

Given the current status of the AFC playoff picture, the Bengals would likely need to win all five of their remaining games and hope for positive outcomes from several other games to have an increased likelihood of making it to the playoffs.