The NFL continues to discuss and deliberate on the unfinished Bills-Bengals game from Week 17.
Nothing is official yet. Here’s what we currently know.
The Bills-Bengals will probably not be played. Players don’t want to. And there’s no good way to fit it into the calendar.
The best bad solution in this regard would be to play the NFC and Bills-Bengals wildcard round next weekend, with the AFC wildcard round playing next weekend. It would wipe out the week between the conference championships and the Super Bowl. There is no appetite for this approach.
The question then becomes to sow the AFC playoffs without Bills-Bengals. The winning percentage becomes the most obvious method. But there are fairness concerns, given that the winner of the Bills-Bengals game would have been in position to be one of the AFC’s top seeds.
One possibility would be to add an eighth team to the AFC playoff field. That would eliminate the bye for the No. 1 seed.
To ensure a competitive balance, there should also be eight teams in the NFC.
The NFL Players Association is expected to agree to a temporary playoff field extension.
Discussions are also continuing on the possibility of making the AFC Championship a neutral venue game. The problem with this approach is that if, for example, a team other than the Bills, Chiefs, or Bengals qualifies for play, there is no need to use a neutral site.
Whichever way it plays out, a decision needs to be made quickly — especially if the playoff field expands unexpectedly, in both conferences. This changes the dynamic of teams vying for playoff positioning.
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