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USA Today Sports Media Group
USA Today Sports Media Group
Sport
Bill Riccette

How Bengals’ win over Giants impacted draft order, playoff chances

It wasn’t pretty at times, but the Cincinnati Bengals went into MetLife Stadium and scored a 17-7 win over the New York Giants to move to 2-4 on the season. A loss would have been crushing, dropping the team to 1-5 and all but losing the season. At 2-4 with some winnable games on the horizon, the Bengals may have saved their season.

Entering the week, the Bengals were tied for the worst record at 1-4 and were sitting at No. 2 in the draft order, behind only the New England Patriots. The Bengals won, while the Patriots, Jaguars, Browns, and Panthers all fell to 1-5. So what does the draft order look like for the Bengals after six weeks?

The Bengals now sit at No. 8 in the order. In addition to the four 1-5 teams, the Rams and Titans are both 1-4. There are a handful of teams, six to be exact, that hold a 2-4 record. Of the six, the Bengals have the second-easiest schedule, behind only the New York Jets.

Here is the current top ten in the draft:

1. New England Patriots 1-5
2. Cleveland Browns 1-5
3. Jacksonville Jaguars 1-5
4. Carolina Panthers 1-5
5. Los Angeles Rams 1-4
6. Tennessee Titans 1-4
7. New York Jets 2-4
8. Cincinnati Bengals 2-4
9. New Orleans Saints 2-4
10. Arizona Cardinals 2-4

As far as their playoff chances, according to ESPN (through Sunday’s games), the Bengals were at 35 percent to make the playoffs with just a 5 percent chance to win the AFC North. The Bengals are now two games back in the AFC North. They do sit just one game back of a wild card spot. The Colts hold the last spot at 3-3. The Bengals are behind the eight-ball early on with their 0-3 start in conference play.

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