In the wake of Damar Hamlin going into cardiac arrest after a routine tackle on Monday night, no one in their right mind was thinking about the on-field football ramifications. While Hamlin continues to recover with powerful messages from his doctors, the NFL has started to slowly look ahead to January’s postseason a few days after the fact.
The big news (again, entirely ancillary to Hamlin’s health) is that the formerly suspended Bills-Bengals game from Monday is now officially cancelled and will not be resumed, per a league statement on Thursday night. The league cited that the decision will not affect who will qualify for the playoffs, nor will anyone be eliminated by the no-contest. In addition, having both teams still play would’ve required pushing back the playoff schedule by a week, something the league didn’t want to do in adherence to “competitive principles” for all 14 participating squads.
It’s a reasonable move that will have a lot of ramifications on the AFC playoffs:
Week 17 Buffalo-Cincinnati game will not be resumed. Clubs to consider neutral site AFC Championship game.
Full statement: pic.twitter.com/NwqUwxlbzo
— NFL (@NFL) January 6, 2023
With the postseason just around the corner, here is the proposal the NFL has outlined that could come into play after Week 18 concludes this Sunday. Owners and clubs will vote on passing the proposal on Friday.
AFC Championship Game neutral site scenarios
Given how much Bills-Bengals would’ve normally weighed in the race for the AFC’s top seed, one of the only fair resolutions from a canceling would’ve been a neutral site game. Here’s how that would happen, according to the NFL’s proposal:
- If the Bills beat the Patriots and the Chiefs beat the Raiders (or both tie), a potential Buffalo-Kansas City AFC title game will be played at a neutral site.
- If the Bills and Chiefs both lose while the Ravens beat or tie the Bengals, a potential Buffalo-Kansas City AFC title game will also be played at a neutral site.
- If the Bills and Chiefs both lose while the Bengals beat the Ravens, a Buffalo or Cincinnati AFC title game against Kansas City would be played at a neutral site, too.
These scenarios will only apply should the conference championship involve some mix of these three squads, as they were all in play for the AFC’s No. 1 seed before Bills-Bengals kicked off. It’s worth noting that, apparently, a Buffalo-Cincinnati AFC title game would happen in Buffalo regardless of what happens in Week 18:
A summary of the proposal for the AFC Championship Game:
14-3 Chiefs vs. 13-3 Bills: neutral site
13-4 Chiefs vs. 12-4 Bills: neutral site
13-4 Chiefs vs. 12-4 Bengals: neutral siteWeek 18 has no bearing on a possible Bills-Bengals championship game: that would be in Buffalo.
— Field Yates (@FieldYates) January 6, 2023
The NFL has not outlined why the game would be in Buffalo no matter what, even if the Bills and Bengals both finish with 12 regular-season wins.
The league has not yet decided where a potential neutral site AFC title game would take place. Pro Football Talk has reported that Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis has been suggested as a central location.
A potential coin toss for Ravens-Bengals in the Wild Card Round
The Ravens, who have already defeated the Bengals earlier this season, are the elephant in the room of this AFC playoff race. Should they complete the season sweep this weekend, they will not get to host a playoff game because the Bengals would still technically have a higher winning percentage. By that virtue, the Bengals have officially won their second-straight AFC North title.
However, should the Ravens win and end up being scheduled for a Wild Card matchup with the Bengals, a coin toss will determine the site of that game between Baltimore and Cincinnati. If the Bengals beat the Ravens in Week 18 or if there’s no Wild Card matchup between the division rivals on hand, the standard scheduling policy will apply.
No perfect answer
In a chaotic and unfortunate situation that involved someone almost losing their life, there was never going to be a scenario the NFL came up with that made everyone completely happy football-wise. Officially eliminating a game from the schedule for two legit Super Bowl contenders will undoubtedly complicate January.
But, ideally, any reasonable person can see that a solution like a neutral site AFC title game was the best outcome for all involved.
