Realistic expectations for Cincinnati Bengals in playoffs

Pessimistic View: Bengals continue their winless streak in playoff games

The term pessimistic might conjure images of dreading something that is not likely to happen, however, in this sense, it is really more like a worst-case scenario for the Cincinnati Bengals and their fans.

While we don’t know who Cincinnati is going to host over Wild Card weekend, we do know that it is going to be a good team, that finished with a winning record. This year, there are no teams that are backing their way into the postseason. All potential opponents have shown they can play great football and will be a challenging game for Cincy.

So looking at the worst-case head-on, the Bengals could lose.

They are an extremely young team that is really a year ahead of the expected contention schedule. They have been able to turn this team around, but the playoffs are a different animal. All it takes is one bad game and the season is over. Zac Taylor has seemingly adapted as a play-caller, however, a too conservative approach as we’ve seen in past games could spell doom for the Cincy offense.

While nobody wants to acknowledge this, the Bengals could go one and done again, extending the winless streak.