The Bengals and Bills are both going to the playoffs and they could square off come January, but we won’t have to wait that long to see them on the same field.
Monday night will find the two teams in Cincinnati for their first matchup since the 2019 season. That means it will be quarterback Joe Burrow‘s first chance to face Buffalo and it will be the first time the Bengals meet the Bills since their ascension to the top of the AFC during the 2021 season.
Given the Bills’ spot at the top of the AFC playoff heap, some might see this game as a measuring stick for the Bengals but Burrow said on Thursday that he believes his team is past such things after winning the conference last year.
“Yeah, I mean, we’ve beaten everybody,” Burrow said in a press conference. “We know we can play against everybody. We’ve done it in the biggest moments. So like I said, we’re treating every game the same. We’ve played everyone in the last two years. We haven’t played the Bills yet, so that will be a fun challenge, but they’re good on defense, got a lot of veteran guys and know how to play within their scheme, they play hard, they play fast, they play schematically sound so it’ll be a fun challenge.”
The Bengals are on a seven-game winning streak and, litmus test or not, extending it to eight against the Bills will make things more interesting in the AFC heading into a postseason that could feature another meeting between the two teams that will finally share the field on Monday night.