Trio of off-season favourites facing tough road to playoffs after slow starts

As Week 8 of the NFL season comes to a close on Monday Night Football, teams from around the league are beginning to have an understanding of where their respective seasons are heading.

The Kansas City Chiefs, Baltimore Ravens, and Detroit Lions have all enjoyed great starts to the 2024 season, and look to have earned legitimate contender status as the midway point of the year approaches.

But for each team that has lived up to expectations, there are those who have fallen short and now face a difficult path to the playoffs after being seen as off-season favourites by fans and media members, alike.

New York Jets

The Aaron Rodgers era in East Rutherford has not gone to plan thus far.

With a fifth consecutive loss on Sunday, the New York Jets dropped to 2-6 on the year and now sit in the basement of the AFC East.

Through eight weeks, the Jets have already fired their head coach, changed play-callers, added a superstar receiver in Davante Adams, and ended a months-long holdout with pass rusher Haason Reddick.

After all of that, the Jets still could not avoid an ugly 25-22 loss to the lowly New England Patriots.

“Another game of shooting ourselves in the foot,” said running back Breece Hall after Sunday’s loss. “We shouldn’t have been losing this game.”

"We did not execute in critical moments," said interim head coach Jeff Ulbrich to ESPN’s Rich Cimini. "We say that's not who we are, but it's who we are until we demonstrate otherwise.”

While the Jets have failed to ‘demonstrate otherwise’ during this five-game skid, their chances for a potential playoff berth have fallen significantly since the start of the season.

After opening the year as -170 favourites to make the playoffs on FanDuel Sportsbook, New York now sits at a lengthy +570, the third-lowest odds being offered on playoff futures.

The books aren’t the only ones casting doubt on if the Jets can right the ship, as ESPN’s latest playoff picture projections have New York at just 13 per cent, the seventh-lowest in the AFC.

The Jets currently share the longest playoff drought in North American sports at 13 years since their last appearance. Barring a miraculous mid-season turnaround, that streak looks set to continue.

Dallas Cowboys

Following a 30-24 loss on Sunday Night Football at the hands of the San Francisco 49ers, the Dallas Cowboys now sit at 3-4 on the year. 

Frustrations levels in the Cowboys' locker room are “very high” according to quarterback Dak Prescott, and that proved to be true when cornerback Trevon Diggs confronted a reporter regarding a critical post on social media in the wake of Sunday’s loss. 

This wasn’t the first time a member from the team voiced their displeasure with the media this season, as Jerry Jones previously lashed out on radio show host after the team’s 47-9 drubbing at the hands of the Lions.

“I’ll get someone else to ask these questions,” said the longtime Cowboys owner on Dallas’ 105.3 The Fan. “I'm not kidding. You're not going to figure it out what the team is doing right or wrong…you really think you're gonna sit here with a microphone and tell me all of the things that I've done wrong without going over the rights?”

After a tumultuous contract saga with star receiver CeeDee Lamb was settled to the tune of four-years, $136 million, the team also extended Prescott just hours before kick-off in Week 1 with a $240 million deal of his own.

Given the significant investments into two of the teams’ biggest stars, the Cowboys were expected to repeat as divisional champs and be among the top contenders in the NFC. 

Through eight weeks, that has not been the case.

Prescott has now gone three consecutive games with two interceptions for the longest such streak of his career, while Lamb has recorded just one 100-yard outing this season. As well, the lack of depth on the defensive side of the ball continues to be a problem while the injuries pile up. 

Things won’t get any easier over the next four weeks. The Cowboys are slated to play the Atlanta Falcons, Philadelphia Eagles, Houston Texans, and Washington Commanders next, all teams with winning records. 

This next stretch will be crucial if America’s Team is to clinch a playoff berth down the stretch, as two of those contests will come against divisional foes that are currently ahead of them in the standings.

The Cowboys haven't been under .500 this late into a season while Prescott has been healthy since 2018, and with ESPN’s projection model giving them just a 12 per cent chance of making the playoffs, it’s beginning to look like a lost season for one of the league’s most iconic franchises.

Cincinnati Bengals

Much like the Jets and Cowboys, the Cincinnati Bengals find themselves on the outside of the playoff bubble after another slow start for the team under head coach Zac Taylor. 

In 2020, the Bengals went 0-2-1 to begin the Joe Burrow era in Cincinnati. The following season, they went 1-2 through the first three games. They began the next two seasons at 0-2, before falling to 0-3 to start 2024. 

The team now sits at 3-5 after their 37-17 loss to the Eagles on Sunday, and have their work cut out for them if they’re to manufacture yet another midseason turnaround. 

“Second half wasn’t good enough," Bengals coach Zac Taylor said after the loss Sunday. "Didn’t make enough plays. Lost the turnover battle. They scored on every possession in the second half.”

Burrow said in his post-game press conference that he feels a 10 win season would be enough to get back to the playoffs. He also added that winning seven of their remaining nine games is “doable”. 

“We’ve done it before,” said the former first overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft. “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.”

In both seasons that Cincinnati made the playoffs since drafting the LSU product, they finished with 10 and 12 wins, respectively. Last season, they missed out after finishing at 9-8.

Whether or not the Bengals can fight their way back into the postseason conversation remains to be seen, but FanDuel has moved their odds to +118 after the Sunday’s loss after being favourited at the beginning if the season. 

ESPN gives Cincinnati a 28 per cent chance for a playoff berth, with three divisional games still to come on the schedule against the Ravens and Pittsburgh Steelers.