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Damar Hamlin remains in the hospital as doctors work to help him recover. Hopefully, more information about his well-being will be released soon.
Meanwhile, the NFL has a dilemma on its hands as the league must figure out what to do with the Buffalo Bills and Cincinnati Bengals game.
Well, it sounds like all options are on the table right now. It appears the league is going to continue forward and play Week 18 as scheduled. However, that leaves both the Bills and Bengals one game behind the rest of the NFL. With that in mind, there are some reports of how this situation is going to be handled.
According to Benjamin Allbright, the league “is considering calling the Bills vs. Bengals game a ‘no contest.'” If that’s the case, then the NFL is going to have a doozy trying to figure out the playoff seeding in the AFC. One reported solution is to use a “random number generator.”
Reporter @AllbrightNFL says the #NFL is considering calling the #Bills vs #Bengals a “no contest” and then determining seeding via a “random number generator”. Audio clip below. pic.twitter.com/Y9q0IHCeRT
— Bills Stats & More (@Tickets_Buffalo) January 4, 2023
This is a wildly bizarre solution. However, it’s important to keep in mind that this isn’t the only thing being presented. It might just be the weirdest option on the table though. In all, if the Bills-Bengals game is ruled as a no-contest, then the NFL is going to have to figure out a way to make the AFC playoff seeding as fair as possible.
Typically, NFL playoff rankings are determined by a team’s win-loss record. After that, there are many tiebreakers to determine the order. Another solution that seems to be the fan favorite is basing the seeding off of win percentage instead of record. That very well could be the way to go, but at least one fan base isn’t going to be happy.
Correct. Why they’re tabling so many options. Unprecedented scenario that is ultimately likely to screw someone.
— Benjamin Allbright (@AllbrightNFL) January 4, 2023
Nothing is finalized yet and we may not receive an official answer until after Week 18 is complete. With that said, proceed with the NFL regular season as scheduled and the league should reveal its solution before the start of the playoffs.