Bleeds Orange

"In this case", yes, but a team that wins every game it's supposed to (for lack of a better term) could just as easily be put into this position. But in the end, I guess it's just another quirk in how a season plays out, kinda like getting a team at full strength when everything is clicking for them vs getting them after their starting QB is out for the season. And I guess those types of breaks even out over the course of several years, but it sucks in the moment.

Would Mike Brown let Tee walk to show Joe who's still calling the shots?

It's worth noting that if York had gone 3 for 4 instead of 4 for 4 on field goal attempts tonight, the Bengals would have lost. Despite nearly costing them the game last week, I'd still invite him to camp to serve notice to McPherson that the team is serious about having a kicker that can make field goals, and is not content to miss the playoffs because of it again.

Yes, this was likely the closest thing to a playoff game the team will get this season, and they finished it out on a positive note. A memorable night, of sorts. Saturday night broadcast TV national audience, five-game season-ending winning streak, fourth straight winning season, 3-2 in an unprecedented five road primetime games on the season, a defense that finally showed signs of life, overcoming the loss of the kicker, and sending the Pittsburgh bastards to Baltimore instead of a much easier game in Houston. It will go down as one of the most frustrating seasons in franchise history, but at least there's a silver lining and reason for cautious optimism for 2025.

I wish there was some remedy for teams using their practice squad players (yes, hyperbole) in a key game that determines the playoff fate of multiple teams. Maybe drop them one seed for a loss in the final week? Half

"There's a lot of football left to play."

What are the chances that the viewership for this game is greater than for some playoff games?

My WAY TOO EARLY forecast is for 11-6 as a best-case, but a loss in Denver and 10-7 record wouldn't be shocking. Maybe one or two of these teams won't be as good next year, though. Division games: 4-2 (split with PIT and BAL and sweep CLE) Home: New England Patriots W New York Jets W Chicago Bears W Detroit Lions L Jacksonville Jaguars W Arizona Cardinals W Away: Buffalo Bills L Miami Dolphins W Green Bay Packers L Minnesota Vikings L Denver Broncos W

Denver is favored by 9.5 and I have no hope at all that KC will win. I just hope that having their starters not play for 25 days comes back to bite Kansas City in the ass, unless they're playing Pittsburgh.

I'm guessing you're referring to DET, BUF, GB, and MIN? What about at Miami and at Denver? From a ticket-buying fan standpoint, the non-division home lineup isn't very exciting. I'll take it, though, if it means more wins. I wasn't overwhelmed until I reached the last line, the one that says "Salary". Wow! Plus, he's got fewer miles on the odometer. Credit where it is due, the organization made the right call here.

Don't look now, but 6 of the 8 road games next year are going to be against teams that make the playoffs this year. Also, getting the NFC North seems unfortunate. Things do change with some teams from one year to the next, though, so maybe they won't all be as good next year as they are this year. But as of now, I could see them being underdogs in every road game except maybe CLE and perhaps MIA. The home schedule, on the other hand, looks pretty favorable from here. Six of the nine are "should be" wins, with PIT, BAL, and DET posing the biggest challenges, but again, things do change. I had NE and WAS penciled in as wins this year, and... Oh, and that's an outstanding set of chompers on #87 in your pic.

Yes, thanks for pointing that out. I looked and saw that they missed the division title by 1.5 games (CLE had a tie) and didn't notice that they missed the wildcard by only one game. And I also forgot about last year. I've updated the post accordingly.

Yep, every year they were among the best teams in baseball, but other NL West teams took turns being a bit better.

Yes, same here. Those 1975 and 1976 seasons were very frustrating, especially 1976. Went to Oakland the next week and got beat and were basically finished after starting 9-2. I've pointed this out here here before, but the 1975 and 1976 Bengals were 0-4 against Pittsburgh and 21-3 against the rest of the league over those two seasons. That snow game was the low point of all of it. If I recall correctly, the Browns played a 1:00pm game in Cleveland that day, and like the Bengals game, it began without snow but ended up a blizzard as the afternoon wore on. That front was moving north-to-south and we watched the same snow situation play out in the Bengals-Stealers game at Riverfront during the 4:00pm slot.

Both the 1985 and 1986 teams were frustrating to watch, as both put up a ton of points but the defense gave up a ton, as well (sound familiar?) Penis LeBeau was the DC in those years. The 1985 team was 3rd in the NFL in both points scored and yards gained, but the defense gave up the third-most points in the league. The 1986 team was #1 in the NFL in yards gained and #3 in points scored, but the defense gave up the sixth-most points in the league.

Seasons the Bengals missed the playoffs by one game or less. Note that it happened in Sam Wyche's first three seasons as a head coach. This was at the same time the Reds were finishing in 2nd place in the NL West in each of Pete's first four full seasons as manager (1985-88). One of several frustrating eras in Cincinnati sports. 1976: Started 9-2 while Pittsburgh started 1-4 but won out to go 10-4. Bengals lost 2 of last 3 to also go 10-4, Pittsburgh got tie-breaker and the division, NE 11-3 got WC, Bengals left out. 1977: Needed to win at Houston in final game to get to 9-5 and win division by tie-breaker over 9-5 Pittsburgh, but lost. 1984: Needed 11-4 Raiders to beat Pittsburgh in final game of season in LA, but Pittsburgh won the game and the division. Bengals finished 8-8 and Pittsburgh 9-7. 1985: Browns won the division at 8-8. Bengals finished in 2nd at 7-9. 1986: Bengals, Jets, Chiefs, and Seahawks all finished 10-6, but KC and NYJ got the two wildcards with tiebreakers. 1989: The Bengals lost to the Vikings on the last Monday night of the season. A win would have put them in as a wild card, but they finished 8-8 while the Stealers and Oilers took the wildcards at 9-7. 1996: Bengals finished 8-8, but Colts and Jaguars got the final two wildcard spots at 9-7. 2006: Bengals were 8-5 but lost three straight to end the season 8-8. KC got the final wildcard at 9-7. 2023: The Burrow-less Bengals finished 9-8 while Pittsburgh took the last wildcard at 10-7.

Here's a video of that game. The first few seconds lay out the playoff possibilities and the first shot of the Bengals players watching the game is at the 11:45 mark.

The first time I remember the Bengals watching the outcome of another game determine their playoff fate was 1984. The Bengals started that season 0-5 (sound familiar?) under first-year head coach Sam Wyche and were 4-8 (sound familiar?) when Pittsburgh led the division at 6-6. Wyche made a comment to the media guaranteeing that the Bengals would win out (sound familiar?) and get to 8-8 and something to the effect of "let's see if they can go 3-1", meaning Pittsburgh. If the Stealers went 2-2, the Bengals would win the tie-breaker. Pittsburgh beat Cleveland the next week to go 7-6 but then lost at 2-11 Houston in overtime to level back to 7-7. The won the next week to go 8-7 and had to finish up on the road against the defending Super Bowl Champion Raiders, who were 11-4. However, LA's playoff position was already decided (sound familiar?), and Pittsburgh won the game and the division while the Bengals and Wyche watched from Wyche's couch. VIDEO HERE: https://x.com/Ol_TimeFootball/status/1868825820879638598

Is Tee going to be injury prone his entire career, or has he just had a bad run of luck? I'm starting to lean toward the former.

Tilting a game or two might be doable, but tilting two Bengals games, a Chefs-Broncos game, a Colts game, and a Dolphins game might be too obvious. 😃

They did convert fourth-and-16 in Arrowhead. The official saw an incomplete pass, thought about it for several seconds, and realized the situation and threw a flag. Yeah, I'm still salty over that and also the fact that the very next damned week, the Chefs pushed a Falcons receiver out the back of the end zone and dragged him up into the stands before the ball got there and no penalty was called, giving them two straight wins they didn't deserve.

We diss him for consistently having the calls go his team's way in pivotal moments of games.

Well, there's that, too. 😟

I mentioned this in the Denver Week thread, but the Broncos have beaten only four AFC teams this year (Raiders, Jets, Colts, and Browns).

Speaking of IND and MIA easy schedules, there is more feast-or-famine in the league this year than in any season I can remember. We have 15-1, 13-2, 13-2, 12-3, and 12-3 on the top end and five teams at 3-12 and one at 2-13 on the bottom end. There are a lot of really bad teams.