Bengals Open at +400 to Make the Playoffs This Season

Vegas has released their odds for each NFL team to make the playoffs. At +400, the Bengals may have worse odds than many expected.

The Bengals sit at +400 (or 4/1) to make the playoffs, according to Vegas. Those aren’t terrible odds, but they are among the worst in the NFL. For comparison, division rivals Pittsburgh and Baltimore have odds of -550 and +125, respectively.

Out of all 32 teams, the Bengals currently have the 8th worst odds to make the playoffs. The seven with worse odds are Tampa Bay (+425), Buffalo (+450), Chicago (+450), New York Jets (+600), Cleveland (+600), Miami (+600), and Arizona (+800). Arizona at +800 is a little baffling (they’re still bad, though), but the rest of these teams are among the worst in the NFL. The Browns and Jets were the two worst teams in football last year. Miami and Buffalo are both staring down massive regressions after trading away key pieces. Tampa Bay and Chicago are intriguing, but they both were still among the worst teams in football last year. Furthermore, they are both in hyper-competitive divisions.

It seems strange that Vegas would put the Bengals in this group of teams, then. The Bengals have worse odds than teams like the Seahawks (+220), Colts (+325), and Giants (+325). The Colts and Giants were far worse than the Bengals last year, and there’s no guarantee that they will improve more than the Bengals. The Seahawks have traditionally been good, but have faltered in recent years like the Bengals. This offseason, they lost nearly their entire core, too. At the very least, this team shouldn’t have the 8th worst odds in the NFL.

Certainly, the Bengals have missed the playoffs the last two years, but they were almost .500 last season. Before that, this team made the playoffs 5 straight years. Many of the core pieces from those playoff teams are still on the roster, too. This team could definitely have a bounce-back season, but Vegas certainly doesn’t think so.