Something to prove: Bengals 0-7 vs. playoff teams

It's not a promising stat for the Bengals, but this isn't a team preoccupied with the odds.

The Bengals' surprising 9-7 campaign was good enough for a playoff berth this season, but they travel to Houston for Saturday's wild-card game with an 0-7 mark against their postseason peers.

The Bengals beat only one winning team in 2011 -- the Titans -- and went 0-4 against their AFC North rivals from Pittsburgh and Baltimore, but defensive tackle Domata Peko sees a ray of hope.

"It's just unfortunate that we're losing to some of the better teams," Peko told The Associated Press on Tuesday. "We've been in each of those games, a play or two away from winning those games. But we're just happy around here that we're in the dance and have to now prove to the world that we belong here."

Peko's correct: The Bengals are seemingly on the cusp of knocking off one of the big boys. Outside of being waxed by the Steelers in Week 13, they've kept it close against playoff teams, losing by 2, 5, 7, 7, 1 and 8 points.

Excuse Cincinnati's faithful if they could care less about any of this. Their team hasn't won a playoff game since George Bush (the first one) was in office (1990) and, besides, they've come to believe in the powers of A.J. Green and Andy "Glowing Ginger Man" Dalton, two youngsters itching to show they're in the NFL for a reason.