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Excuse longtime Bengals fans if they are suffering from déjà vu.
Once upon a time, the 1989 Bengals – coming off of an AFC Championship – outscored their opponents by 119 points over the course of the season … and did not make the playoffs. Too many blowout wins and too many close losses left those Bengals with the NFL’s third-best point differential, an 8-8 record and a spot in the conversation of the best NFL teams that didn’t make the playoffs.
The craziest part is that group might not even be the most deserving Bengals team of the 1980s that got robbed. The 1986 Bengals had the NFL’s No. 3 ranked offense, convincing wins over three playoff teams and a 10-6 record that wasn’t good enough to advance because seven AFC teams had 10 or more wins in an era when just five made the playoffs.
Nearly three decades later, the 2024 Bengals (4-6) are in danger of joining that dubious list if they don’t go on an extended winning streak over the final seven games. Other good teams who can relate to that playoff-less pain include the 1991 49ers, 1978 Chargers and 2005 Chiefs.