Cincinnati Bengals Get Help From Upcoming Opponent, Playoff Chances Go Up in Week 13

CINCINNATI — Don't look now, but the Bengals are only two games behind the Steelers and Ravens for first place in the AFC North.

Cincinnati beat Baltimore on Thursday night to improve to 4-8 on the season. The Ravens fell to 6-6 on the year. Buffalo beat Pittsburgh 26-7 on Sunday. The Steelers are also 6-6 on the season. They've lost three out of their last four games.

Suddenly, the Bengals are only two games out of first place in the AFC North. Cincinnati has a 6% chance of making the playoffs following their Week 13 win and the Steelers loss according to the New York Times NFL playoff simulator.

"I think we've just got to take it one game at a time," Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow said before leading the Bengals to a 32-14 win over the Ravens on Thanksgiving night. "Yeah, we pretty much have to win every game at this point. The only way you're going to do that is by attacking each week. You have to be 1-0 that week and move on to the next."

Burrow played against the Ravens just 69 days after undergoing surgery on his left big toe. He suffered a grade 3 toe sprain in Cincinnati's Week 2 win over the Jaguars. The Bengals are 8-0 in Burrow's last eight starts dating back to last season.

The door is still open in the AFC North, which is something Burrow predicted when he was cleared for practice on Nov. 10.

"Our division is wide open," Burrow said. "Everything is still there in front of us. It's very rare that our division looks like this, but it does this year. I think we'll be at least in it until the end."

The Bengals play the Bills in Buffalo next week, before returning home to play the Ravens. If they win both of those games, their playoff chances would jump to 31%.

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