The Cincinnati Bengals entered Week 18 as AFC North champs and slated to host at least one playoff game at Paul Brown Stadium, so they trotted out mostly backups during the season-ending loss to the Cleveland Browns.
As a result, paired with other outcomes around the conference over the weekend, the Bengals enter the playoffs with the AFC’s No. 4 seed and will host the Raiders in the wild card round.
That showdown with the Raiders has a 4:30 p.m. ET kickoff on Saturday, January 15.
This is the NBC crew for the game:
- Mike Tirico – Play-By-Play
- Drew Brees – Analyst
- Kathryn Tappen – Sideline
- Terry McAulay – Rules
The Bengals went to Las Vegas and beat the Raiders in Week 11, 32-13. Those Raiders just played late into Monday morning in overtime to earn the right to turn around on a short week and play a Saturday game in Cincinnati.
Entering Sunday, thanks to Saturday’s results, the Bengals still had a slight shot at the AFC’s No. 2 seed. Too many things needed to go their way for that to happen though, so they settled into the fourth seed. Tennesse earned the AFC’s top seed.
