Bills-Bengals Week 17 officially canceled
The Week 17 game between the Buffalo Bills and Cincinnati Bengals will not be completed, as the NFL turns its attention to Week 18 and the playoffs. The Bengals have been named the AFC North champions because their win percentage with a 16-game schedule would be better than that of the Ravens with a 17-game schedule, even if Baltimore pulls the upset victory in Week 18.
If the Ravens do beat the Bengals in Week 18, they will have beaten Cincinnati twice. While they cannot win the division because of win percentage, the site of a Wild Card Game between the two would be decided by a coin toss.
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The cancellation of Monday night’s game has also forced the NFL to revamp its AFC playoff schedule and it is possible that there could be a neutral-site game in the AFC Championship. There will be a test at the end of the article, so bear with me.
The NFL Competition Committee at the recommendation of Commissioner Roger Goodell outlined the possible AFC Championship scenarios:
A neutral AFC Championship Game site now is possible, per the NFL: pic.twitter.com/5gmd0drq7q
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) January 6, 2023
We’ll know by Saturday what happens with the Chiefs, who are in action as a heavy favorite against the Raiders. If the Chiefs win and the Bills lose, Kansas City has home-field advantage throughout.
The big wrinkle in all of this is that all of these procedures and alterations only apply to the AFC Championship Game. The most likely scenario is that the Bengals and Bills meet in the Divisional Round, where the Bills would have home-field advantage. We’ll never know what would have happened on Monday Night Football and if the Bengals would have won to have the head-to-head tiebreaker.
As far as season-long futures bets and win totals, refer to the sportsbook you made the bet at for additional clarification. At DraftKings, the Bengals are the AFC North champions. In terms of season win totals, House Rules apply, which state that “determined win totals will be settled normally and all others will be voided”.
The Bengals’ win total line was 10 and the Bills’ win total line was 11.5. Both teams had already gone over, so they will be graded in that fashion.
