{"id":178049,"date":"2023-01-05T18:35:05","date_gmt":"2023-01-05T18:35:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/nfl-ponders-playoff-seeding-without-playing-bills-bengals\/"},"modified":"2023-01-05T18:35:05","modified_gmt":"2023-01-05T18:35:05","slug":"nfl-ponders-playoff-seeding-without-playing-bills-bengals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/nfl-ponders-playoff-seeding-without-playing-bills-bengals\/","title":{"rendered":"NFL ponders playoff seeding without playing Bills-Bengals"},"content":{"rendered":"
Getty Images<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
The NFL continues to discuss and deliberate the unfinished Bills-Bengals game from Week 17.<\/p>\n
Nothing is official yet. Here’s what we currently know.<\/p>\n
Bills-Bengals most likely will not be played. The players don’t want to do it. And there’s no good way to fit it into the schedule.<\/p>\n
The best bad solution in this regard would be to play the NFC wild-card round and Bills-Bengals next weekend, with the AFC wild-card round being played the next weekend. This would wipe out the week between the conference championships and the Super Bowl. There’s no appetite for that approach.<\/p>\n
The question then becomes seeding the AFC playoffs without Bills-Bengals. Winning percentage becomes the most obvious method. But there are concerns about equity, given that the winner of the Bills-Bengals game would have been in position to be one of the top seed AFC seeds.<\/p>\n
One possibility would be to add an eighth team to the playoff field in the AFC. This would eliminate the bye for the No. 1 seed.<\/p>\n
To ensure competitive balance, there would have to be eight teams in the NFC, too.<\/p>\n
The NFL Players Association would have to agree to a temporary expansion of the playoff field.<\/p>\n
Discussions also are continuing on the possibility of making the AFC Championship a neutral-site game. The problem with this approach is that if, for example, a team other than the Bills, Chiefs, or Bengals qualifies for the game, there’s no need to use a neutral site.<\/p>\n
However it plays out, a decision needs to be made soon \u2014 especially if the playoff field will unexpectedly grow, in both conferences. It changes the dynamics for the teams vying for playoff positioning.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Getty Images The NFL continues to discuss and deliberate the unfinished Bills-Bengals game from Week 17. Nothing is official yet. Here’s what we currently know. Bills-Bengals most likely will not be played. The players don’t want to do it. And there’s no good way to fit it into the schedule. The best bad solution in …<\/p>\n