Saturday will be for the AFC North in Week 18.
The NFL has placed the two divisional matchups between the Browns and Ravens along with the Bengals and Steelers on Saturday for the last weekend of the season.
The Browns and Ravens will lead things off on ESPN and ABC at 4:30 p.m. ET on Saturday. The Bengals and Steelers will follow at 8 p.m. ET on the same networks.
Both Baltimore and Pittsburgh have already clinched a playoff spot at 11-5 and 10-6, respectively, but the division is still up for grabs.
If the Ravens defeat the Browns, then they’ll win the AFC North. Though Baltimore lost to Cleveland earlier in the season, the Browns have struggled mightily on offense since Dorian Thompson-Robinson took over at quarterback.
The Bengals will be particularly motivated to win on Saturday night because they’re still alive to be the AFC’s No. 7 seed. But even if they win, they’ll need both the Broncos and Dolphins to lose on Sunday in order to make the postseason. If Pittsburgh wins, Cincinnati will be eliminated from postseason contention.
Denver will play at Kansas City and Miami will visit the Jets in Week 18. Kickoff for both games will be at 4:25 p.m. ET on Sunday.
After playing three games in 11 days, Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes will play zero in 25.
It’s very likely, we’re told, that the Chiefs will rest key starters in a Week 18 game at Denver. Others have reported that the Chiefs are “expected” to sit Mahomes and others.
Look for an official announcement to come early in the week from coach Andy Reid.
It’s very good news for the Broncos, who need to win next Sunday to make it to the playoffs for the first time since Super Bowl 50. It’s very bad news for the Bengals, Colts, and Dolphins, whose postseason hopes hinge on Denver losing again.
It ultimately could end up being bad news for the Chiefs, if the Broncos make it as the No. 7 seed, upset the Bills, and roll into Arrowhead Stadium with momentum against a Chiefs team that might be caught flatfooted after having nearly a month off.
Earlier this year, the Broncos were a field goal away from beating the Chiefs at home. The kick was blocked, sealing the Kansas City win.
The Chiefs have a dilemma.
They can try to knock the Broncos out of the playoffs next weekend with a win in Denver, or they can do what they typically do when the last game of the regular season means nothing to their playoff fortunes — rest the starting quarterback and other key starters.
That’s how Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes made his debut, seven years ago. The Week 17 Chiefs-Broncos game meant nothing, so Alex Smith sat and Mahomes played.
Generally speaking, no team should want to see a division rival rolling into town for a one-game, winner-take-all playoff showdown. Division rivals know their opponents well. They don’t get as intimidated as other teams might. And they’d love nothing more than to derail a special season.
The Broncos need simply to win on Sunday to get in. A loss to the Chiefs likely means Denver’s streak of no playoff appearances since winning Super Bowl 50 will extend to nine.
There’s another reason for the Chiefs to consider playing Mahomes and other key starters, if only for a quarter. With the bye secured and the extra rest from playing on Wednesday, it’ll be 25 days between games for Mahomes, Travis Kelce, etc.
What if the Broncos win on Sunday, upend the Bills in the wild-card round (which isn’t a crazy proposition) and then roll into Arrowhead in the divisional round, having played three high-stakes games since the last time Mahomes played?
Once before, the Chiefs rested Mahomes in the last game of the regular season while holding a first-round bye. And when Kansas City hosted Cleveland in the divisional round, the game was closer than expected. Would it have been without three weeks off between games for Mahomes and others?
There’s one last point. Knocking the Broncos out could open the door for the Bengals. And the Bengals have gone toe-to-toe with the Chiefs in the postseason, beating them in the 2021 AFC Championship and almost beating them in the 2022 AFC Championship.
But there’s no guarantee that the Bengals get in with a Broncos loss. They still need the Colts or Dolphins to lose at least once, and the Colts close with the Giants and Jaguars. Thus, it’s possible that both the Broncos and Bengals could be knocked out.
Which would be good for the Chiefs. And for everyone else in the 2024 playoff field.
Bengals wide receiver Tee Higgins is set for free agency after the 2024 season and that was on his mind during Saturday’s game against the Broncos.
The Bengals are on the road against the Steelers in Week 18, so this season’s home finale might have been Higgins’ last game playing for the home team in Cincinnati. His status was in some doubt during the week due to an ankle injury, but Higgins was able to play and he turned in a memorable performance.
Higgins caught 11 passes for 131 yards and three touchdowns, including the game-winning score in overtime.
“It could be my last game playing here in this stadium with stripes on,” Higgins said, via the team’s website. “I wanted to go out with a bang . . . Hopefully, it’s not, but you never know what the future holds. You can’t go out any better way.”
It remains to be seen if Saturday’s game was Higgins’s final impression on Cincinnati, but it will be a lasting one regardless of how things play out on the contract front.
After the Broncos scored a touchdown with eight seconds left in Saturday’s game against the Bengals, quarterback Bo Nix could be seen holding up two fingers in reference to trying a two-point conversion to win the game.
Head coach Sean Payton went the other way, however. The Broncos kicked an extra point to tie the game 24-24 and go to overtime, which turned out to be a good turn for the Bengals as they were able to score a touchdown and keep their playoff hopes alive in the extra session.
The Broncos would have clinched a playoff spot with a win or a tie and Payton said after the game that “it probably would’ve been a little easier decision” to go for two if the “tie element” wasn’t part of the picture. Payton said he thought it was the correct decision and “in the end, we didn’t make enough plays and they did.”
“We discussed it all,” Payton said in his postgame press conference. “Plenty of time, plenty of time, plenty of time and the decision we made is the right one. . . . A lot of it is your gut relative to how the toss goes. We were moving a little bit on offense, and then weighing the percentages of the two-point conversion. I think that had a lot do with it.”
Nix said he was going off “straight emotion” in signaling to go for two, but that’s “not always the wisest decision” and that he thought the choice to go to overtime was the right one as well.
That might be the case, but the Broncos have now gone from having three games to win one to needing a win in Week 18 to assure themselves of a playoff berth. Facing a Chiefs team with nothing on the line could work to their advantage, but the margin for error is now gone for Denver.
The MVP race may be down to Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson, but Bengals coach Zac Taylor thinks Joe Burrow is the NFL’s best player.
After Burrow led the Bengals to an overtime win over the Broncos on Saturday, Taylor was asked about Burrow in relation to Allen and Jackson and the MVP race, and Taylor cast his vote for Burrow.
“I don’t know that anybody can stand on the field and watch Joe Burrow and not say that he’s the best player in the world,” Taylor said. “I would not trade Joe Burrow for any player in the universe, and to me? That’s MVP to me.”
Burrow played one of the best games any player has played this season on Saturday, completing 39 of 49 passes for 412 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions against the Broncos. He was the best player on the field, and he’s certainly one of the best players in the league. Now the Bengals will hope he can lead them to a win next week, and that they’ll get some help in other days, so the player they think is the best in the world is playing in the playoffs.
The Bengals did what they had to do today, though it was far more dramatic than they had hoped. Now, they’ll need another win and help to continue their season beyond next week.
Cincinnati kept Denver from clinching the final AFC playoff berth with a 30-24 overtime win on Saturday. The Bengals improved to 8-8, with the Broncos falling to 9-7.
Denver still can clinch next week with a win over the Chiefs, who have clinched the AFC West title and the No. 1 conference seed.
But the Bengals controlled what they can control despite a 33-yard missed field goal by Cade York with 2:43 left in overtime. They got the ball back when the Broncos, who would have clinched the playoff spot with a tie, punted after a three-and-out.
Tee Higgins caught a 31-yard pass from Joe Burrow to the 3-yard line with 1:10 left in overtime. Replay let the play stand with Higgins’ left toe down on the catch before his right foot landed in bounds as his momentum carried him out of bounds. Higgins then caught the 3-yard touchdown pass from Burrow to end it.
Higgins caught 11 passes for 131 yards and three touchdowns.
The Bengals thought they had the win at the end of regulation when Burrow scored on a 1-yard quarterback push play with 1:29 remaining. The Bengals got unlucky when Chase Brown was hurt while sliding down at the 1, so the Broncos got their final timeout back, and then Burrow scored. Without Brown’s injury, the Bengals could have burned most of the time.
Bo Nix then lead the Broncos on a seven-play, 70-yard drive with Marvin Mims catching a 25-yard touchdown pass high-pointing the ball between defenders Geno Stone and Mike Hilton with eight seconds left. It was close, with the ball moving as Mims was hitting the ground and then going out of bounds, but replay let the play stand.
The Broncos were going for two and the win before the replay, but opted to kick the extra point for the tie and overtime.
The Bengals won the overtime coin toss but gained only 12 yards on five plays and punted for the first time all game. The Broncos, who started at their own 10, went three-and-out to give the ball back to the Bengals at their own 46. Cincinnati then drove to the Denver 15 where York banked the chip-shot field goal off the left upright.
The next time the Bengals got the ball back, they left it to Burrow and Higgins rather than York.
The Bengals never punted in regulation, and they should have won earlier and by more. They had three touchdown drives, a field goal drive that ended at the Cincinnati 3, two drives that ended on downs deep in Denver territory and a drive that ended acxross midfield with a Higgins’ fumble that Pat Surtain forced and recovered. The Bengals also had a kneel down to send the game to overtime.
The Bengals led only 7-3 at halftime.
They outgained the Broncos 499 to 329, with only one punt. Burrow was 39-of-49 for 412 yards and three touchdowns. Ja’Marr Chase caught nine passes for 102 yards. Brown had 20 carries for 67 yards before leaving with his injury, and his replacement, Khalil Herbert, had a key 13-yard run in overtime.
Nix was 24-of-31 for 219 yards with three touchdowns and an interception, with Mims catching eight for 103 and two touchdowns. Courtland Sutton added five catches for 55 yards and a touchdown.
The Broncos had seven sacks of Burrow led by Zach Allen’s 3.5 and Jonathon Cooper’s 1.5.
Germaine Pratt had a key interception for the Bengals late in the fourth quarter.
The Bengals’ 17-10 lead lasted all of 2:45. That’s how long Bo Nix needed to drive the Broncos to the tying score.
His second touchdown throw of the day, a 51-yarder to Marvin Mims, has allowed the Broncos to tie the Bengals 17-17 with 8:48 left.
Nix now is 15-of-18 for 155 yards, with Mims catching five for 76.
The first half was a defensive battle of sorts with the Bengals taking a 7-3 lead into the locker room at halftime. The second half is turning into a shootout.
The Bengals have outgained the Broncos 295 to 247.
Joe Burrow is 25-of-33 for 232 yards and two touchdowns for Cincinnati.
The Bengals finally converted a fourth down on their way to a touchdown.
Tee Higgins’ 12-yard reception from Joe Burrow allowed the Bengals to regain the lead on the Broncos. They are up 17-10 with 11:33 remaining.
Higgins’ first touchdown was 2 yards. His second came on a fade despite being tightly covered by Riley Moss.
It finished off an 11-play, 63-yard drive.
Two plays before the touchdown, the Bengals converted their first fourth down on their third try. Burrow threw to a wide-open Chase Brown for an 11-yard gain to the Denver 17.
In the first half, the Bengals were stopped on fourth-and-1 from the Denver 22 when Brown was stopped for no gain by Nik Bonitto, and they were stopped at the 2 when Burrow as sacked for a 3-yard loss by Jonathon Cooper.
The Bengals have 295 yards and should lead by more if not for the fourth-down stops deep in Denver territory.
The Broncos scored their first touchdown of the day with 3:10 remaining in the third quarter. Bo Nix hit Courtland Sutton for a 6-yard score.
Wil Lutz’s PAT has tied the game 10-10.
Nix now is 13-of-16 for 91 yards and a touchdown, with Sutton catching two passes for 13 yards. Jaleel McLaughlin has seven carries for 61 yards.
The Bengals led 7-3 at halftime but added a field goal on an 11-play, 69-yard drive to open the second half.
They have had four drives, reaching the Cincinnati 22, 2, 2 and 4 but going 1-for-3 in the red zone. The Bengals have outgained the Broncos 231 to 172.
Zach Allen and Jonathon Cooper each have 1.5 sacks for the Broncos.
