This past weekend, the Cincinnati Bengals lost to the Pitssburgh Steelers to drop the team to a still-respectable 10-3. Their biggest loss from the game had nothing to do with the team's record though, as starting quarterback Andy Dalton fractured the thumb on his throwing hand. Luckily for the team, he is considered week-to-week. The team is two games up on the Steelers in the division, and there are three second-place AFC teams with an 8-5 record, including Pittsburgh. With three games to go, the team would find it much harder to miss out on the playoffs than sneak in. It also seems obvious, due to his injury status, that Dalton would return for a playoff game.
While the team will have AJ McCarron, who has no experience at the professional level, at quarterback, they just need to hold off either the Steelers, or one of the two Wild Card contenders, the New York Jets or Kansas City Chiefs, to earn a playoff spot. The odds that the Bengals will lose miss out is less than a single percentage point.
The team has been great all year, and Dalton is having his best season as a pro. He was on track to have 30 touchdowns and 4,000 yards, while throwing interceptions at the lowest rate of his career. This is the season in which we would see if the team could rely on Dalton in the playoffs, and we still might find out that they can.
Dalton looked like a star earlier this season, and the team did well enough to make them a near lock to make the playoffs. Many want to count Dalton and the Bengals out, but with injuries and lackluster play by some of the teams in the AFC, they can still fight for a spot in Super Bowl 50.
