How wacky has this season been for the Cincinnati Bengals?
They enter Week 17 and the Christmas Day slate needing to get some help from the Pittsburgh Steelers to boost their playoff chances.
Those Steelers happen to play the Kansas City Chiefs on Christmas and the Bengals would prefer if those Chiefs have something to play for in the final week of the season (the AFC’s top seed).
As a refresher, the Bengals need the following to happen to make the playoffs:
- Win out
- Dolphins and Colts lose at least one of their final games
- Broncos lose out
That last point is the idea here on Christmas Day. If the Chiefs beat the Steelers and rest their starters in their Week 18 matchup against Denver, the Broncos could roll, win and eliminate the Bengals.
In an ideal scenario, the Steelers beat the Chiefs on Wednesday, then Kansas City goes all-out in Week 18, assuring the Broncos lose out.
Granted, given the gap between now and a post-bye playoff game, perhaps the Chiefs would play starters in Week 18 against the Broncos either way.
But this is about setting up the best possible Week 18 for a Bengals team looking to sneak into the playoffs. They need to keep winning, which means proving themselves against the Broncos and then Steelers to close the season.
The other ideal outcomes include Dolphins and Colts losses, plus the Steelers throwing an assist to provide the highest possible chance of the Broncos losing out, too.
Weird…but that’s the 2024 Bengals, folks.
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