Bengals to host Raiders in Wild Card Round of NFL Playoffs

The Cincinnati Bengals’ regular season is over, and the NFL playoffs are coming back to the Queen City.

After winning the AFC North, the Bengals came into Sunday as the AFC’s 3 seed and unable to reach the 1 seed after the Kansas City Chiefs won Saturday. That meant the Bengals could be the 2, 3 or 4 seed, which is a big reason why they rested most of their starters in Cleveland.

Now, the Bengals have officially earned the AFC’s No. 4 seed and will host the Las Vegas Raiders on Saturday, January 15th at 4:30 pm ET on NBC. You’ll be able to stream it online with Peacock.

The Bengals and Raiders already faced off once this season. That was a Week 11 game that saw the Bengals go into Las Vegas and come away with a 32-13 win. Though the final score suggests a blowout, it was really a dogfight the Bengals gutted out.

The road team led by one score much of the fourth quarter until Joe Burrow threw a five-yard touchdown to Ja’Marr Chase with 5:03 left to go up 23-13.

While Burrow and Chase have carried the offense much of the season, this was a game in which the passing game generated just 129 yards. Joe Mixon was the MVP of the day, as he finished with 123 yards and two scores on 30 carries.

The Raiders are in the playoffs after beating the Chargers with a field goal as time expired in overtime to claim the No. 5 seed in the AFC playoffs. The Bengals are currently favored by our friends at DraftKings Sportsbook.

Let’s rock.