This solution might seem more palatable if the game meant little. But the game was actually quite important for both teams, who are safely in the playoffs but fighting for the No. 1 seed, which comes with a valuable playoff bye. Their finishes also have implications for other teams, notably Kansas City (13-3).
The Bills (12-3) can gain that No. 1 seed if they win their final game of the year on Sunday against the New England Patriots (12-3). The Bengals (11-4) can also get the slot with two wins, but they would need a Kansas City loss at the Las Vegas Raiders (6-10) on Saturday.
Award the game to the Bengals.
Cincinnati led the game, 7-3, when it was halted and theoretically could have been awarded the victory based on that.
This was a particularly unappetizing scenario for several reasons. Barely an eighth of the game was played, making the Bengals’ lead seem trivial. And given the harrowing night faced by the Bills in particular, awarding them a loss seems unduly cruel.
Push the playoffs back.
The N.F.L. had an ace in the hole: There is a week off in the playoff schedule.
The league could have pushed all the playoff games back one week, leaving the weekend of Jan. 14-15, now set for the wild-card round, for the resumption of Bills-Bengals. The playoffs would have then started Jan. 21, the bye week would have been filled with the conference championship games, and the Super Bowl would be played as scheduled on Feb. 12.
If that seems to leave a rather bare weekend, with just a part of one game, the league could have started the N.F.C. playoffs on time and pushed back only the A.F.C. games. The N.F.C. teams could then have been given a bye after either the wild-card or division rounds. Both conference championship games would have been played in what was the bye week, and the Super Bowl would still have been played on schedule.
There was precedent. After the 1982 football strike cost the league 57 days in the middle of the season, the N.F.L. added an extra week of regular season games and pushed the playoffs back a week, eliminating the week off before the Super Bowl.
In 2001, after a week of games was canceled because of the Sept. 11 attacks, the league pushed the Super Bowl itself back a week. While that could be a scenario this year, the complexity of rescheduling such a mammoth event makes that an unattractive option.
