Bengals out of race for No. 1 seed in AFC after Chiefs beat Broncos

The Cincinnati Bengals are headed back to the playoffs, but what seed they will be is still very much up in the air. One possibility that has been eliminated is being the top seed after the Kansas City Chiefs defeated the Denver Broncos on Saturday.

The Bengals are currently 10-6 and winners of the AFC North. That means they are guaranteed to be no less than the four seed since they are a division champion. However, they could be as high as the two seed depending on how Week 18 plays out.

Right now, the games to watch are the Tennessee Titans vs. the Houston Texans, the Buffalo Bills hosting the New York Jets and even the New England Patriots going to face the Miami Dolphins.

To put it simply, if the Bengals defeat the Cleveland Browns they are pretty much guaranteed at least the third seed. If the Titans were to lose in that same situation then they could move up to the second seed. If Cincinnati loses on Sunday, then the only way they don’t end up as the fourth seed is if the Bills and Patriots both lose their games.

There is still plenty left to determine. However, the Bengals have opted to just treat this as a bye week and take the home division game they are promised no matter the outcome of Sunday’s matchups. The only thing the final seeding will decide is how likely they are to host another playoff game in Cincinnati if they were to move on past the Wild Card round.