The Cincinnati Bengals were mathematically eliminated from the playoffs today.
After a relatively valiant effort against the Raiders in Oakland — which saw the team lose a squeaker 17-10 — the Bengals became the first team to have no possible chance of playing an NFL playoff game in 2019.
The Bengals are winless this season and currently hold a league-worst 0-10 record.
Unlike most of this season, the Bengals were in the game until nearly the end. In his second game starting, rookie quarterback Ryan Finley had a chance to lead the team to a game-tying touchdown. But a Finley interception with just over a minute left in the fourth quarter sealed the team's fate.
The Bengals weren't great, of course, but they looked good out of the gate, particularly Joe Mixon, who showed some flash on a short touchdown run in the first quarter. The defense also looked about as good as it has the entire season.
Wide receiver Auden Tate had to be carted off of the field on a backboard after getting hit hard after a first-down reception in the third quarter.
The Bengals have six games left, a stretch that begins next Sunday against the Steelers at Paul Brown Stadium. The rest of the schedule is… interesting. The Bengals play the (rebounding?) interstate rival Browns twice, fellow Bad News Bears-like teams the Dolphins and Jets and, oh yeah, the defending Super Bowl champs (and the current best team in the league) New England Patriots, who come to PBS Dec. 15.
So theoretically they could go 6-10.
By having the worst record in the NFL, the Bengals are "winning" the race to get the top pick in the 2020 NFL Draft, but even that has gotten somewhat complicated lately. Alabama quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, who many saw as being the draft's No. 1 pick, suffered a season-ending injury this weekend. The Sporting News and others are now predicting the Bengals will take LSU quarterback Joe Burrow at No. 1 in the draft.
According to ESPN, the Bengals' elimination in week 11 marked the earliest a team has been mathematically out of playoff contention since "at least" 2002. Guess which team was out of it this early in 2002?
Should the 2019 team's fortunes not turn, they're on track to be the worst in Bengals franchise history. In 2017, ESPN declared that the worst season for the Bengals was 2002, with a lousy team that marked the end of the Dick LeBeau era and earned them the top 2003 draft pick, Carson Palmer. That 2002 squad went 2-14, the worst record in Bengals history. For now.
The Bengals are the first team eliminated from playoff contention.
— NFL on ESPN (@ESPNNFL) November 18, 2019
Week 11 matches the earliest a team has been eliminated since at least 2002. pic.twitter.com/wRXotfbQ8l
