The game of the Cincinnati Bengals against the Buffalo Bills was abandoned after the Hamlin collapse at the score of 7:3. Both teams are in a long-distance battle with the Kansas City Chiefs for first place in the AFC. Reportedly, the NFL could use a curious ruling to decide the playoff seeding.

Following the tragic injury to Damar Hamlin, the game between the Cincinnati Bengals and Buffalo Bills was called off in the first quarter of play. At that point, the Bengals were leading. And even if the health of the Bills player Hamlin is the first priority (condition still critical, but with a positive tendency), the NFL has to find a solution how to deal with the open game.

After all, it’s not an unimportant one. Especially for the AFC. Currently, three teams still have a chance to take first place in the conference. The Buffalo Bills and the Cincinnati Bengals, but also the Kansas City Chiefs, who are currently in first place. The NFL has several options to solve the problem, but none seems ideal. One way would probably be extremely curious and would be a first in history.

NFL Option 1: Make up game

The NFL has decided that the game will not be made up this week. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell told the teams after consulting with the players’ union NFLPA.

In Week 18, the Cincinnati Bengals play the Baltimore Ravens and the Buffalo Bills play the New England Patriots. Whether the NFL will make up the game at a later date is still open. But with Wild Card playoff games already starting the following weekend, it would have to take place during the week and the teams that would then have to play in the Wild Card would be at a significant disadvantage for fitness reasons alone

pic.twitter.com/GTW86bqJ8B

– NFL (@NFL) January 3, 2023

NFL Option 2: Change playoff schedule

As “ProFootballTalk” reports, changing the game schedule might also be an idea. In 2001, the Pro Bowl was already cancelled on the scheduled weekend before the Super Bowl, due to the terrorist attack on September 11.

At that time, the Pro Bowl was held a week after the Super Bowl. So it would be an idea to cancel the Pro Bowl, run the Bills-Bengals game promptly, for example, and move the current playoff schedule back a week so that the Championship Game wouldn’t be held until the current Pro Bowl weekend.

NFL Option 3: Do not replay game and use different tie-breaker

Currently, the NFL team that has the better record gets the better playoff spot. If the game can’t be made up, there would be a problem: the Chiefs are 13-3, the Bills are 12-3 and the Bengals are 11-4. Meaning, the Chiefs would have one more game and thus an advantage, since the Bills couldn’t reach 14 wins with the missing game.

To get around that, the NFL could adjust the rule in this case and go to the next tie breaker, which is based on “Win Percentage”. This involves dividing the number of wins by the number of games played. So for the Chiefs, 13 wins divided by 16 games = a Win Percentage of 0.815. But if that’s all that applies, it ignores the fact that both the Bills and Bengals have already won against the Chiefs this season. A possible tie-breaker that is ignored by pure “Win Percentage” alignment. Suboptimal.

NFL Option 4: Chance determines fate

Now it gets curious. But possible. Benjamin Allbright is an NFL reporter for KOA Radio in Colorado and knows his way around the league’s bylaws. He outlines another possibility where the so-called “Random Number Generator” could play a role and the Bills-Bengals game would be considered a “no contest. “

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 process is actually only intended for extreme emergencies, which could be the case here. A number between 1-18 is determined by a random generator. The game from the week of that number will not be counted from the Chiefs’ perspective compared to the Bills and Bengals!

Random number generator? DUMB idea. Discrediting a win over Denver? DUMB idea. If it’s a no contest and the chiefs win on Saturday they have more wins. They should be the 1 seed.

– David (@crane_chiefs25) January 4, 2023