CINCINNATI – Little about what Cincinnati Bengals shown in 37-17 defeat on Sunday to the Philadelphia Eagles suggests they have a chance to bounce back from a lousy first half of the season to make the playoffs.

But as long as Joe Burrow is healthy and playing like he does, the possibility exists.

Let’s remove Burrow from the equation and just look at the math component of it.

The Bengals are 3-5, which, as Burrow pointed out in his postgame press conference, means they need to win seven of their final nine games to get into the playoff conversation playoffs.

A 7-2 finish would bring Cincinnati to 10-7, and at least one team has made the playoffs with 10 wins or fewer since the NFL expanded the playoffs to seven teams per conference in 2021.

Three did so last year.

But the question isn’t whether a 10-7 gets a team in, but whether a 3-5 team with four home losses in four tries can actually get to 10-7.

Since 1990, when the league expanded the playoffs to six teams per conference, 199 teams have started 3-5.

Twenty-one of them mobilized to reach the playoffs. This represents 10.3 percent.

Since the 2021 expansion, 22 teams have started 3-5. Six bounced back to advance to the playoffs. This represents 27.3 percent.

Here’s a look at those six teams, all of which were in the NFC:

Packers 2023: They actually won to get to 3-5, then lost to fall to 3-6 before improving to 6-2 to get to 9-8. They beat Dallas in the Wild-Card round before losing to San Francisco 24-21 in the divisional round.

Buccaneers 2023: They were 4-7 in 11 games before going 5-1 to finish 9-8 and win the NFC South. They beat Philadelphia in the Wild-Card round before falling 23-21 to Detroit in the divisional round.

2023 Rams: Another team that started 3-6, the Rams went 6-1 down the stretch with the lone overtime loss coming to Baltimore. Los Angeles earned a wild card spot at 10-7 before losing its first playoff game to Detroit, 24-23.

Buccaneers 2022: The outlier of outliers, Tampa Bay started 3-5 and only went 5-4 down the stretch, but won a dreadful NFC South at 8-9. The Buccaneers fell to Dallas 31-14 in the Wild-Card round.

49ers 2021: They went 7-2 after the 3-5 start to earn a wild-card spot at 10-7. The 49ers won at Dallas 23-17 and at Green Bay 13-10 to reach the NFL championship game before falling to the Rams.

2021 Eagles: Another team that went 3-6, Philadelphia went 6-2 down the stretch to get to 9-7. The Eagles lost to Tampa Bay 31-15 in the Wild-Card round.

But if you’re encouraged by the 23.7% chance, not every 3-5 starts are equal.

The troubling aspect of the Bengals’ 3-5 start this year is the fact that they are 0-4 in four home games.

In the Super Bowl era, 121 teams lost their first four home games.

Only four made the playoffs. This represents 3.2 percent.

On the plus side, three of the four who have accomplished it have done so since the 2021 expansion – the 2021 49ers, 2021 Patriots and 2021 Eagles.

The 2013 Eagles did it, too.

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