The NFL screws the Bengals and it should not be allowed to happen

Before Week, 17:The Bengals controlled their destiny for the two seed. They had a chance for the one seed (they needed to win out, and the Chiefs lose to the Raiders). Now: the Bengals cannot get the one seed. Bengals need the Bills to lose to get the two seed (they don’t control their destiny). Beyond that, if the Ravens beat the Bengals and play round 1 against each other, a coin flip ensues for the home-field advantage. This is based on the logic that the Bengals could have lost Week 17, and thus the Ravens would have won the division and the home playoff game for beating Cincy However, if the Bills and Bengals both win Week 18 and play in the second round, the game is in Buffalo. Why do the Bengals not get a coin flip here based on the assumption that they could have won Week 17 and thus gotten the two seed? This is mind-boggling and unfair, especially when the team getting screwed is the team that was up 4 with the ball at midfield in a game where the other team’s injury resulted in a cancellation.

The Ravens situation

If the Bengals lose to the Ravens, they will have a better record and be declared the AFC North Champions. But the NFL, in its infinite wisdom, has decided that if the Ravens do when then a coin toss will determine who hosts the wild card game. What makes this even crazier is the fact that the Bengals could lose the coin toss and have to go to Baltimore, but wait, there’s more! If they lose the game and the coin toss, the Bengals will still be considered the AFC North champions, even though they have to go to Baltimore! That would mean playing at Baltimore in the playoff game, but the Bengals would be stuck with the more demanding schedule and lower draft pick because they would be considered the division champions! How does that make any sense at all?

So this should mean that If the Ravens flip a coin because the Bengals might have lost Monday night, the Bengals should get to flip a coin if they play Buffalo in the divisional round because they might have won Monday night. Right!??

I hate to tell everybody this, but the Buffalo Bills were headed towards getting their asses handed to them on Monday Night as they had no answers for the bengals offense. You add in that they lost a starting corner earlier in the game, it is easy to see how the game could have gotten out of hand, but we are going to act like we didn’t see that, right?

The Number one seed

The Chiefs now control their destiny for the number one seed, which screws over the Bills and Bengals. If the Chiefs win this week against the Raiders, they will be the number-one seed, but if Buffalo had beaten the Bengals, they would control their destiny. The Bengals can’t get the number one seed under any situation; before this happened, if they beat the Bills and Ravens and the Chiefs were to lose to the Raiders, the Bengals would have gotten the one seed. The Bengals get screwed again.

NFL setting a bad precedent

This isn’t the precedent they want to set–punishing a team doing the right thing. Or is it? This year the Bengals ended up with seven home games, nine road games and a first-place schedule. They’ve won seven in a row, will be AFCN champs and face a possible scenario of having to survive a coin flip to avoid playing every playoff game away from Paycor Stadium.

Bengals Executive Vice President Katie Blackburn let her opinion be known.

The ravens get screwed, also.

If the Bills had beaten the Bengals on Monday night, the Ravens would have had a shot at a three-seed, which is gone now also. What should have been done? That’s easy. Have the Bengals and Bills complete their game. All that had to be done was to add an extra week to the schedule for the Bills/Bengals to play, and all of this would have been avoided. The NFL has played the Super Bowl with one week to get ready before; no reason they couldn’t do it again, is there? Well, of course, there is; that reason is money!

That extra week is big money for the NFL, and they wouldn’t want to lose that! Fans no longer trust anything about the NFL, and for a good reason. The decision made last night will not help. Hopefully, today the owners will come to their senses and put a stop to this, but I won’t hold my breath!