Bengals playoff odds remain high entering Week 11 'SNF' matchup despite 0-3 start
The Cincinnati Bengals' playoff odds seem to suggest this year's squad has a decent chance of becoming the seventh team in NFL history to overcome an 0-3 start to make the postseason.
In recent years, Cincinnati has become somewhat known for its slow starts to the season. Since drafting quarterback Joe Burrow in 2020, there has only been one season (2021) in which the Bengals have not started 0-2, yet the team finished with a winning record in two of those three years.
However, the 2024 season was the first time the Bengals dropped to the dreaded 0-3 mark, which has doomed all but six teams to a season without a playoff berth. However, in the weeks since dropping its third straight game to start the year, Cincinnati is 4-3 and just one game out of a playoff spot entering a "Sunday Night Football" meeting with the Los Angeles Chargers.
Could the Bengals become the seventh team to make the playoffs after rough early goings?
Cincinnati Bengals playoff odds
BetMGM has playoff odds for all 32 teams entering Week 11 action.
The sportsbook gives the Bengals +125 odds to make the playoffs, but more pessimistic fans can also bet on them to miss the playoffs at -150.
NFL teams to start 0-3 and make the playoffs
There have been six teams to make the playoffs after an 0-3 start since 1979 when the NFL added a wild-card round to its playoff format. Only one team has been able to accomplish the feat in the last two decades, and no team has done it since the NFL expanded its regular season to 17 games in 2021.
Here are the six teams that started 0-3 but went on to make the postseason, as well as their record at the end of the year and how they performed in the playoffs:
- 1981 New York Jets: Finished 10-5-1, lost in wild-card round (31-27 to the Buffalo Bills)
- 1982 Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Finished 5-4 (strike-shortened season), lost in wild-card round (30-17 to the Dallas Cowboys)
- 1992 San Diego Chargers: Actually started 0-4 and finished 11-5. They won in the wild-card round (17-0 over the Kansas City Chiefs), lost in the divisional round (31-0 to the Miami Dolphins)
- 1995 Detroit Lions: Finished 10-6, lost in wild-card round (58-37 to the Philadelphia Eagles)
- 1998 Buffalo Bills: Finished 10-6, lost in wild-card round (24-17 to the Miami Dolphins)
- 2018 Houston Texans: Finished 11-5, lost in wild-card round (21-7 to the Indianapolis Colts)