It’s all but a foregone conclusion the Cincinnati Bengals won’t finish their postponed game against the Buffalo Bills.
But the how, where and why of the actual AFC playoffs remains up in the air.
The NFL’s competition committee reportedly met on Thursday night in an effort to figure out the topic and rather than updates on what happened there, all we have is reports about the owners now meeting virtually on Friday.
ESPN’s Dianna Russini reported the news, as did Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio:
“With the Bills and Bengals not playing, the seeding would be determined based on winning percentage. But that would create a perceived unfair advantage for the Chiefs, who would capture the No. 1 seed simply by beating the Raiders on Saturday — even though the Chiefs have lost to the Bills and the Bengals. The situation also creates a competitive disadvantage for the Bengals, who could have landed at No. 2 or even at No. 1 if they had won the game against the Bills.
As one source explained it to PFT, the owners will have to resolve some “controversial” aspects of finalizing the plan. The specific options for the owners currently aren’t known.”
Not only do owners have to figure out a fair way to work the actual seedings, they’re going to need to address the topic of which teams get to host games.
If, for example, the Bengals have to travel and face the Bills in the divisional round, should that game be moved to a neutral site out of fairness? And if two of the Chiefs, Bills and Bengals play in the AFC title game, should that go to a neutral site as well?
There’s no easy answer, which explains why the problem has now been elevated to the highest level of the sport.
For now, a look at how the Bengals can clinch six different seeds over the weekend while playing the Ravens:
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