The Bengals have't won a playoff game since modern free agency was instituted

[BengalChris]

(09-24-2019, 04:04 PM)Bengalholic Wrote: Even up till 1990, they only experienced playoff victories in 3 of Paul's 23 years. Even though they've played in 2 Super Bowls, postseason success just hasn't been a part of this franchise. 

Of course, Mike's run as owner is now in it's 29th year without a playoff win - barring some incredible turnaround - which is astounding in a very depressing way. 

For most of the time Paul ran the team there weren't as many playoff spots available each year. From the merger up until 1977 there were 4 playoff teams per conference. In 1978 when the league moved to a 16 game regular season a 5th playoff team was added for each conference. In 1990 the NFL moved to 4 divisions per conference, which added another playoff team with 4 division winners instead of just 3 + the 2 wildcard teams.

So all of the 6th seeds the Bengals have in their 5 year playoff run, none of those teams would have made the playoffs in Paul Brown's days.