CINCINNATI — Owners of the 32 NFL teams on Friday approved new playoff procedures that could lead to a coin flip to determine the Cincinnati Bengals first playoff game, and possibly leading to no home playoff games at Paycor Stadium.
The new playoff procedures follow the official canceling of the Cincinnati Bengals-Buffalo Bills game that was postponed Monday night after Damar Hamlin went into cardiac arrest on the field.
As of Friday afternoon, Hamlin has been weaned off of a ventilator and spoke the Bills team and staff via FaceTime. The 24-year-old's recovery has provided a collective sigh for both Bills and Bengals fans who watched him collapse first-hand, along with millions of other Americans in the most-watched Monday Night Football game in ESPN's history.
Week 18's slate of games includes matchups that determine not just which team makes the playoffs, but what seed each team gets to determine the matchups, and who receives the coveted bye week as the No. 1 overall seed.
Here are the official changes:
1. If the Ravens beat the Bengals on Sunday, and the two teams are scheduled to play a Wild Card game against one another, the site will be determined by a coin toss.
2. If Cincinnati wins OR if the two teams are not scheduled to play each other in the Wild Card round, the game sites will be determined by the regular scheduling procedures.
3. The AFC Championship game will be played at a neutral location if the participating teams have an unequal number of games played.
Prior to these resolutions, the outcome of the regular season would have been decided differently. The Bengals will end the season having played only 16 games. The Ravens will have played 17 games. The Ravens beat the Bengals earlier in the season, and if they beat them again on Sunday and both teams had played 17 games, normally the Ravens would claim the title based on a head-to-head tiebreaker, but because the Bengals will have one less loss than the Ravens, their win percentage will be higher than the Ravens, securing the division title by traditional NFL standards.
However, that's now a moot point.
Looking to the AFC Championship, here are the scenarios in which a neutral playing field would be possible:
SCENARIO 1: Bills and Chiefs both win or both tie
A Buffalo vs. Kansas City championship game would be played at a neutral site.
SCENARIO 2: Bills and Chiefs both lose, Bengals win
A Buffalo OR Cincinnati vs. Kansas City championship game would be at a neutral site.
SCENARIO 3: Bills and Chiefs both lose, Bengals lose
A Buffalo vs. Kansas City championship game would be played at a neutral site.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
