By Mark Curnutte
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Forgive Bengals fans - and maybe even some players - if they're not quite sure how to handle this playoff race.

As a franchise, the Bengals haven't been in one of these things since the 1996 team bowed out after falling to 5-8 following a Dec. 1 loss to Jacksonville. Their last playoff appearance was after the 1990 season.

This year, the 6-5 Bengals are tied for first place in the AFC North with Baltimore. Both teams won Sunday.

The surest way for the Bengals to make the playoffs is to win the division by winning their five remaining games. They are at Pittsburgh and Baltimore, home against San Francisco, at St. Louis and back home for the season finale against Cleveland.

The biggest game on the schedule is the rematch with the Ravens on Dec. 7 at Baltimore. The Bengals beat the Ravens once. A second win would mean the Bengals could go into the season finale tied with Baltimore and still control their destiny by beating the Browns.

The Bengals could go into the last game trailing by one game and still have a chance to win the division with a victory and a Ravens loss in Baltimore to the Steelers.

A 2-0 record against the Ravens would give the Bengals the first tie-breaking formula, head-to-head competition. The second tie-breaker is division record. The Bengals are 2-1, the Ravens 1-2.

Pittsburgh has a 3-1 division record, the best mark against other AFC North teams, though it is 4-7 overall. Right now, the Bengals' focus is solely on Pittsburgh.

"Don't worry about it. We will take care of ourselves," coach Marvin Lewis said when asked Monday about how he prevents his team from watching the scoreboard. "Without us beating (Pittsburgh), we don't have to worry about any playoffs."

Winning the division would guarantee the Bengals a home playoff game. If the season were to end today, the Bengals would be the fourth seed - the worst record of the four AFC division leaders - and would host fifth-seed Tennessee. The Titans are 9-2 but in second place in the AFC South behind Indianapolis. Miami would be the sixth and final playoff team as a 7-4 wild card.

More victories also would help the Bengals' slim chances as a wild card. Miami is the top wild card, and the Bengals and Baltimore are tied with Denver at 6-5 for the next best record in the AFC. To determine wild card qualifiers, head-to-head competition is used as the first tie-breaker for teams from different divisions. The Broncos defeated the Bengals 30-10 in Game 1 on Sept. 7.

If the Ravens were to win the division and the Bengals were to end the season tied with Miami for the last wild card spot, the second tie-breaker is won-loss-tie percentage in games played within the AFC. The Bengals are currently 5-4 against other AFC teams.

There are 11 descending tie-breakers to separate two teams tied for a wild card spot and a series of 12 tie-breakers if three or more teams have the same record.

All of the talk and speculation about playoff possibilities is a waste of energy to Lewis with five games left on the schedule.

"Let's go play," he said.

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