No NFL game has been canceled since the 1987 season, when a players’ strike led to a 15-game campaign, and CBS Sports’ Jonathan Jones notes no game has started and not been completed in league history. The league rescheduled its Week 2 games in 2001, after the September 11 attacks led to their postponement, and put Tuesdays and Wednesdays in play for COVID-19-affected contests in 2020 and ’21. Three days after the Bills-Bengals game’s postponement, the league has not announced a plan.
NFL executive vice president Troy Vincent said everything is being considered, while fellow EVP Jeff Miller noted the league did not begin discussions on how to proceed with the game until recently (Twitter links via NFL.com’s Tom Pelissero and Mike Garafolo). Miller said, however, a decision should emerge this week, via the Boston Globe’s Ben Volin (on Twitter).
Some among the Bills are skeptical the game will be resumed, Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com notes (video link). Logistical reasons are behind the doubt, and Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk notes momentum is building toward the league canceling the game and dealing with the consequences. An announcement along these lines should be expected Thursday, Florio tweets.
As the NFL found its footing in the 1920s and ’30s, league schedules regularly featured teams ending seasons with disparate game counts. Since 1936, however, every team has finished a season playing the same number of games. This week’s situation threatens that streak.
Had the Bills (12-3) won in Cincinnati and then defeated the Patriots, they would have clinched their first No. 1 seed since 1993. Had the Bengals (11-4) won, they would have clinched the AFC North title and had a path to their first home-field advantage perch since 1988. As it stands now, the Chiefs (13-3) — based on win percentage — would be in position to capture the top seed by beating the Raiders on Saturday. While Kansas City grabbing the top seed would come with an asterisk, Florio adds the prospect of playing the AFC championship game on a neutral field is not on the table. Monday’s game being declared a no-contest would also wrap the 10-6 Ravens’ chances of winning the AFC North.
Other options exist here, and an NFL source informed Fowler the league moving the schedule back — via eliminating the bye week ahead of Super Bowl LVII — should be a possibility. The NFL did this during the 2001 season, though Jones adds NFL sources view a no-contest scenario as the cleanest as of Thursday morning. Rescheduling the Super Bowl is also not in play, per Jones.
Moving the Bills-Bengals tilt to next week — creating a de facto Week 19 — would also put the two playoff-bound teams at a bit of a disadvantage, with the rest of the postseason qualifiers being given an unusual bye week. Albert Breer of SI.com offers a scenario in which Goodell determines the Chiefs and Bills’ records through 16 games, thus putting Buffalo — which beat Kansas City in October — back on track to earn the No. 1 seed with a win over New England. Although such a plan would create a strange precedent, this week has effectively moved the league into uncharted territory.