If the NFL regular season ended prior to Sunday afternoon of Week 16, the Baltimore Ravens would have been on the outside of the AFC playoff picture. As of Sunday evening, they’d now currently be the No. 7 seed in the conference and earn the final wild card spot — despite losing to the Bengals by 20 points and falling to 8-7.
Let’s break this down a bit.
In defeating the Ravens, the Bengals are now squarely in the driver’s seat to win the AFC North and host a home playoff game. They sit a full game ahead of the Ravens and have created even more distance between themselves and the Steelers (7-7-1) and Browns (7-8).