After three days of analyzing the situation, the NFL has taken a decision on the resumption of Week 17’s MNF between the Buffalo Bills and the Cincinnati Bengals, game which was suspended due to Damar Hamlin’s cardiac arrest.
The firs quarter of the Week 17’s Monday Night Football was a nightmare for Damar Hamlin. The Bills safety tackled Tee Higgins, but the impact provoked him a cardiac arrest and he had to receive CPR on field to stay alive. The game was of course suspended.
As of today, Damar Hamlin is recovering with a ‘remarkable improvement’, according to doctors. The NFL now has made a decision on whether to resume this match and what would happen with the AFC Championship Game.
Will the Buffalo Bills vs. Cincinnati Bengals game be played?
When Week 17’s MNF was suspended, the NFL informed that Damar Hamlin’s health was their main priority. They tried to show their support towards the Bills safety and the game was not as relevant as the player’s status.
As Damar Hamlin is recovering and has had a ‘remarkable improvement’, the league decided to start again with the conversations on whether to resume or not the game. Now, they have announced what will happen with it.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell informed all clubs that the Buffalo Bills vs Cincinnati Bengals game has been cancelled. They can’t move the schedule of the postseason and they considered that the match’s result will have no effect on which clubs qualify for the Playoffs.
As for their records and the AFC Championship game, there are different scenarios that could happen, depending on what happens on Week 18 and in the playoffs. This is what the NFL will consider for the decision of where will it be played:
1 – The AFC Championship Game will be played at a neutral site if the participating teams played an unequal number of games and both could have been the number one seed and hosted the game had all AFC clubs played a full 17-game regular season. Those circumstances involve Buffalo or Cincinnati qualifying for the game as a road team and are listed below:
Scenario 1
Buffalo and Kansas City both win or both tie – a Buffalo vs Kansas City championship game would be at a neutral site.
Scenario 2
Buffalo and Kansas City both lose and Baltimore wins or ties – a Buffalo vs Kansas City championship game would be at a neutral site.
Scenario 3
Buffalo and Kansas City both lose and Cincinnati wins – a Buffalo or Cincinnati vs Kansas City championship game would be at a neutral site.
2 – If Baltimore defeats Cincinnati in Week 18 it will have defeated Cincinnati, a divisional opponent, twice but will not be able to host a playoff game because Cincinnati will have a higher winning percentage for a 16-game schedule than Baltimore will for a 17-game schedule.
If Baltimore defeats Cincinnati and if those two clubs are schedule to play a Wild Card game against one another, the site for that game would be determined by a coin toss. If Cincinnati wins the Week 18 game or if Baltimore and Cincinnati are not scheduled to play one another in the Wild Card round, the game sites would be determined by the regular scheduling procedures.