Bengals Playoff Odds: With or Without Joe Burrow, Cincinnati's in Trouble

An anticipated AFC North showdown between the Cincinnati Bengals and Baltimore Ravens in primetime on Thursday night fizzled out when Pro Bowl quarterback Joe Burrow left the game in the second quarter and never returned.

Burrow, shortly after throwing a touchdown, was shown in pain on Amazon's broadcast while attempting to grip and throw a football along the sideline just before halftime. A trip to the locker room followed. The 26-year-old QB was quickly ruled out with a right wrist sprain, and Bengals coach Zac Taylor was uncertain of Burrow's status moving forward after Cincinnati's 34-20 loss.

Not exactly the best news for the Bengals, who fell to 5-5 with the loss and are currently outside the AFC playoff picture.

"It's big. He's a top-two quarterback in this league," Bengals cornerback Mike Hilton told reporters postgame. "It definitely makes it harder, but no excuses. Next man up...We feel like he'll be ready for next week. The division might be out of reach, but we still have a chance to get to the playoffs and that's our main goal. I feel like if we get to the playoffs, we'll be a scary team to face."

The key word in that last sentence is "if." Because with or without Burrow under center moving forward, Cincinnati faces a daunting path to the postseason.

Cincinnati's playoff chances sit at 27 percent after Thursday's loss, according to The New York Times' Upshot National Football League (NFL) playoff simulator. The Bengals sit in last place in the AFC North behind the Ravens (8-3), Pittsburgh Steelers (6-3), and Cleveland Browns (6-3).

The Ravens occupy the AFC's No. 2 playoff seed, while the Steelers and Browns sit in two of the three Wild Card spots. The Bengals, meanwhile, are No. 10 in the AFC ahead of Week 11's remaining slate. Cincinnati dropped to 0-3 in division play after losing its second game to Baltimore this season, as well as 1-5 in the conference—both significant playoff tiebreakers.

And the final stretch of the season isn't going to be any easier.

Cincinnati faces the toughest remaining strength of schedule in the league, based on opponent winning percentage, per Tankathon. The team's gauntlet of remaining games features no teams below .500. Starting in Week 12, the Bengals final seven matchups of the regular season are as follows: Steelers, at Jaguars (6-3), Colts (5-5), Vikings (6-4), at Steelers, at Chiefs (7-2), Browns.

If Burrow can't take the field for one or several of those games, the Bengals will continue to turn to backup Jake Browning. The 27-year-old saw his first extended playing time since the 2019 Rose Bowl after replacing Burrow.

Browning completed eight of his 14 passes for 68 yards and threw his first career touchdown against Baltimore's imposing defense.

"I have a ton of confidence in myself," Browning said postgame. "I guess there is maybe more, but we lost, so it is kind of a weird thing. But I didn't feel like I was out of place or anything like that. I didn't really feel that way coming in either. I have had a lot of really good years on practice squads waiting for an opportunity, so [if] this opportunity continues going forward, I have a lot of confidence in myself, [and] I think my teammates do too. So, that just kind of stacks on top of each other, and we will see what it looks like going forward."

Taylor said that Burrow, whose injury is being investigated by the NFL, fell on his wrist early against the Ravens and felt agitated by the injury on his only touchdown pass of the night.

Cincinnati has over a week until it hosts Pittsburgh on November 26. Whether that's enough time for Burrow to heal up remains to be seen. But either way, next week's game is the first in a series of what will basically be "must-win" contests for the Bengals if they want their playoff dreams to become reality. The Bengals have won the AFC North in each of the last two seasons, which also saw Cincinnati make two conference championship games and a Super Bowl. But should the Bengals lose in Week 12, their playoff chances for this season will plummet even further.

"I'm not discouraged about where this season is headed after this game," Taylor said at his postgame press conference. "These guys are going to stick together. We're going to take the long weekend here and regroup and get ready for Pittsburgh next week."

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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.