The Cincinnati Bengals certainly feel like the top team that missed the playoffs this year, meaning they also feel like the likeliest to get back to the postseason in 2024.
Despite a brutal injury bug that cost the team a top-five quarterback for all but four games this past season, the Bengals finished 9-8 — a record that sent other teams to the playoffs in other divisions (all three non-Bengals AFC North teams made the playoffs).
Experts would agree with the idea, with The Athletic’s Mike Jones ranking the Bengals as the top team that missed the playoffs likeliest to get back next season:
They’ll experience some changes, especially on offense, with wide receivers Tee Higgins and Tyler Boyd both set to become free agents. But the Bengals have a strong core, as their narrow miss of the playoffs despite Joe Burrow’s absence reflects. Burrow should bounce back, and with him should return Cincinnati’s hopes for contention.
Given the injury to Joe Burrow and a host of other factors, it’s one of the easiest years to make such rankings.
And just to show how stacked the AFC is, the Jaguars, Chargers and Jets are the first three teams in the rankings after the Bengals.
Cincinnati still needs to properly navigate a critical offseason, but there’s no question that with a healthy Burrow, they’re the most likely to make a postseason return.
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