The Cincinatti Bengals — former USC QB Carson Palmer’s team — can make the playoffs for the first time in 13 years if they beat Cleveland and Pittsburgh beats Baltmore today.

Mind you, I’m using term “Carson Palmer’s team” rather loosely. Fact is, the 2002 Heisman winner and 2003 #1 draft pick hasn’t played all year, thanks to the surprising success of 31-year-old quarterback Jon Kitna, who was on the verge of losing the starting job when suddenly, he started winning.

Still, Carson’s time will come, and in the mean time, it’s gotta be sort of cool to be on such an unexpectedly successful team, even if you’re just on the sidelines of said team. So, go Bengals and go Steelers!

The Cincinnati (8-7) vs. Cleveland (4-11) game starts in about 20 minutes, at 1:00 PM on CBS. The Pittsburgh (6-9) vs. Baltimore (9-6) game is at 8:30 PM. If the Bengals and Steelers win, Cincinnati will be the AFC North champs. (Otherwise the Ravens will win the division and the Bengals will stay home.)

UPDATE: Well, so much for that. The Bengals lose, finish 8-8 and miss the playoffs. On the bright side, maybe the disappointing end to Kitna’s season will help Palmer land the starting job next year.

Regardless, as Keri pointed out in comments, we should still root for the Steelers because they are Troy Polamalu’s team.