Joe Burrow might be down, but he doesn't feel that he and the Cincinnati Bengals are out despite Sunday's loss to the Eagles that dropped Cincinnati to 3-5.
Three weeks ago, Burrow struggled to hide his disbelief after a loss to Baltimore that dropped the Bengals to 1-4. But Burrow's tone was much different Sunday. While he was clearly disappointed in Sunday's loss, Burrow exuded optimism when assessing the Bengals' chances moving forward.
"I think 10 wins usually gets you in," Burrow said, "so we've got to win seven out of nine. That's doable, so we'll go from there."
It's doable, but the Bengals have to play better, especially on defense. They also need to start winning at home, as they are now 0-4 this season at Paycor Stadium. Cincinnati also needs receiver Tee Higgins to stay healthy. On Sunday, the Bengals fell to 0-3 this year in games Higgins has missed due to injury.
Cincinnati is a vastly better team when Higgins is on the field. His presence is especially a good thing for fellow wideout Ja'Marr Chase, who has taken full advantage of the space Higgins gives him whenever both receivers have been on the field at the same time.
Higgins' availability is also crucial for Burrow, who clearly missed his No. 2 wideout in Sunday's 37-17 loss.
"Whenever you don't have some of your best players, that always makes it tough," said Burrow, who also lost his starting left tackle on Sunday after Orlando Brown Jr. exited early with a knee injury. "But that's no excuse. We're going out there with the guys that we have. That's the NFL. You're expected to go out and play well and play up to our standard."
Fortunately for the Bengals, they are still very much in the thick of it as far as the AFC playoff picture is concerned. Cincinnati is actually just 1.5 games behind the Chargers, who would be the conference's seventh and final playoff team if the postseason started today. Helping matters was the fact that the Dolphins, Jets, and Raiders each lost on Sunday and remain behind the Bengals in the AFC standings. Cincinnati is currently +118 to make the playoffs, per FanDuel sportsbook, which equates to a 45.87% chance of advancing to the postseason.
That said, the Bengals need to start handling their own business, starting with next Sunday's home game against Las Vegas. After that, Cincinnati will have road trips to Baltimore and Los Angeles (against the Chargers) before its Week 11 bye. It'll then host the Steelers in Week 12 before road games at Dallas and Tennessee.
The Bengals have gone on runs before. They were 5-4 in 2021 before embarking on a run that ended with a close loss in the Super Bowl. The 2022 Bengals started 4-4 before winning 10 straight games and nearly reaching the Super Bowl again. Last year, Cincinnati finished with a 9-8 record despite losing Burrow to a season-ending injury in Week 11 (the Bengals were 5-5 at the time of Burrow's injury).
Cincinnati has done it before, and Burrow feels he and his teammates can do it again.
"We've done it before," Burrow said when asked about his team's ability to get on a winning streak. "I know the players we've got in there. You've just got to treat it week by week. Any game is winnable. You've just got to go and do it."