The NFL announced Thursday night that it has canceled the remainder of the Monday Night Football game between the Buffalo Bills and Cincinnati Bengals and will designate the game as a “no contest,” leaving both teams with only 16 games in the 2022 schedule.
That decision was followed by a special league meeting on Friday, in which team owners will vote on a playoff plan to balance out potential “competitive inequities.”
That playoff plan was voted on and approved.
The Ravens-Bengals coin flip for game site applies to only one scenario:
- Baltimore wins Sunday, completing a season sweep of the AFC North champions
- Baltimore is the 6 seed (not the 5)
- Baltimore and Cincinnati meet in a wild-card game (not any other round)
The AFC Championship Game will be played at a neutral site if the participating teams played an unequal number of games and both could have been the number one seed and hosted the game had all AFC clubs played a full 17-game regular season. Those circumstances involve Buffalo or Cincinnati qualifying for the game as a road team and are listed below:
Scenario 1
Buffalo and Kansas City both win or both tie – a Buffalo vs Kansas City championship game would be at a neutral site.
Scenario 2
Buffalo and Kansas City both lose and Baltimore wins or ties – a Buffalo vs Kansas City championship game would be at a neutral site.
Scenario 3
Buffalo and Kansas City both lose and Cincinnati wins – a Buffalo or Cincinnati vs Kansas City championship game would be at a neutral site.
The Bengals, recognized yesterday as the AFC North champions regardless of their Week 18 outcome against Baltimore, aren’t guaranteed a home playoff matchup per the new changes.
This is why the team wanted most owners to vote no on this process. It is set in stone now.
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