You guys should probably get used to the idea that the NFL is going to try to continue to build its fan base through the younger generation that emphasize empathy over other factors. I’m not mad that we won’t get to host a 5th AFCCG in a row, Pat is better on the road, anyway.

Florio is a lawyer, so he looks at everything through a legal & contractual angle. If nothing else comes out of this, the Bengals are learning a hard lesson that nice guys finish last. They will not be so nice the next time another team has an emergency situation. Buffalo has been playing hardball politics the entire week behind the scenes.

If Buffalo won, we would have to play both team (and a third game) to make the Super Bowl

Now, KC just needs to win a home playoff game against a low seed team (after a bye) and then beat the winner of Buffalo/Cincy at a neutral location to go to the superbowl.

I’m not mad if that’s how it ends up.

If you told me that 3 weeks ago, I’d take that in a heartbeat.

this

can't wait for the whole country to root against the Bills and this bullshit

They ****ed their karma up so bad

**** the bills

You say this now but it's a long offseason.

I completely understand why they didn’t want to play after the injury. I also understand that it may not have been feasible to make it up. And given some of the truly stupid ideas floating around this one doesn’t impact the Chiefs as much as others.

That said, the rules already exist for how to address this. It’s not any more complicated than that.

I won’t be shocked if Buffalo gets blown out in their first playoff game.

The only fans that don’t seem to have a problem with this arrangement are the Bills fans.

LOL

participation trophy generation

Personally, I hope they lose this week and the Chiefs/Bengals win and this insanity never sees the light of day.

That's getting quite clear judging by the bullshit memo Goodell and the competition committee put out today. So much for not them caring about the football.

They'll need to sharpen the rules in the off-season. Something like the game needs to be played within 2-3 days or there is a forfeit.

I kind of like the idea someone else mentioned to have a bye week for the entire league heading into the playoffs. College football has a pretty long break between regular season and bowl games. An extra bye week at the end of NFL regular season would buy some time for bizarre emergency games to be played.

Agree with this 100%. Especially the part about games that are postponed being played or a forfeit issued. If the Bills and/or Bengals just couldn’t go then they get a no L/T/incomplete. Which, BTW, is already in the rule book:

“Emergencies and Unfair Acts” and the specific rule entitled “Competitive Policy for Cancelled Games”: “If a game is cancelled, a team’s standing in its division or in its conference (e.g., qualification as a Wild Card in the playoffs or position in playoff seeding) shall be determined on the basis of its final record. When necessary, playoff tiebreakers shall be calculated according to per game average for all teams.”

So to summarize, the league has rules for cancelled games that result in the standings being decided by win percentage. The Chiefs (likely) end up first seed by win percentage. The league decides they can't allow such a finish for sympathy/optics reasons, all because the Bills didn't play a game (a game they willingly chose not to play that was also the toughest game of their season on the road) and instead decides to make an unpreceded rule change to limit the value of the #1 seed and benefit Buffalo in a potential AFC Championship game instead.

In doing so, the NFL absolutely screws over the Bengals (who would have likely been the #2 seed had their game been played and may very well have been the #1 seed) and Ravens (who could have won the AFC North and now don't have the opportunity).

This is how a billion dollar sports league conducts itself a week before the playoffs start? Yeah the Chiefs might have made out the best of this shit sandwich of a situation the NFL created for itself but how is any of it OK?

I think it was clear before the official decision was handed down. Credible media people were floating stuff out there that seemed illogical & extremely favorable to Buffalo. I'm just glad some of those ideas apparently got shit-canned.