It turns out the NFL will not need a neutral site for the AFC Championship game after the Cincinnati Bengals thoroughly dominated the Buffalo Bills, 27-10, in Sunday’s Divisional Round playoff game.
The Bengals win will send them to Arrowhead Stadium next Sunday for a rematch of last year’s AFC title game against the Kansas City Chiefs.
If the Bills had won Sunday’s game, that would have sent the AFC Championship game to a neutral site in Atlanta because the Bills did not play a full 17-game season and lost out on a chance to win the top spot in the AFC. Their Week 16 game against Cincinnati was postponed when Bills safety Damar Hamlin collapsed on the field. If Buffalo had won that game they would have finished the year tied with Kansas City for the top spot in the AFC and owned the tiebreaker due to a head-to-head win earlier this season.
The NFL seemed extremely excited about the potential for a neutral l-site championship game, and it even led to speculation that it could be become a regular thing in the future.
More than 50,000 tickets were sold for that potential game.
The Bengals seemed to use all of that hype for the neutral-site game as even more motivation. They were also happy to point out the refunds that will be needed.
