The Cincinnati Bengals have been rewarded for their good season with a nationally televised regular-season finale at Giants Stadium against the Jets. They already have a playoff spot secured; the only thing left to determine is whether Cincinnati or New England will be the #3 seed.

It remains to be seen if the Bengals consider the #3 seed more important than the opportunity to rest their starters, though. There are only a couple of benefits that the #3 seed has over the #4 seed:

• If New England and Cincinnati both win in the Wild Card round, the #4 seed will have to play the #1 seed (Indianapolis, in this case), while the #3 will play the #2 seed (San Diego).
  


• If the Bengals and Patriots both advance to the AFC Championship, the game would be played at the #3 seed's field.

The simplest way the Bengals can claim the #3 seed is by finishing with a better record than the Patriots. If the Patriots lose to the Texans today and the Bengals beat the Jets this evening, Cincinnati will finish 11-5 to New England's 10-6.

But if both teams win or both lose, the tiebreaker will come down to strength of victory, the total W-L record of the teams the Bengals/Patriots have beaten:

Bengals SOV Opponent W-L GB 10-5 PIT 8-7 CLE 4-11 BAL 8-7 CHI 6-9 BAL 8-7 PIT 8-7 CLE 4-11 DET 2-13 KC 3-12 NYJ (8-7) Total 69-96

Patriots SOV Opponent W-L BUF 5-10 ATL 8-7 BAL 8-7 TEN 7-8 TB 3-12 MIA 7-8 NYJ 8-7 CAR 7-8 BUF 5-10 JAX 7-8 HOU (8-7) Total 73-92

The Patriots have a better strength of victory right now, so the Bengals need a specific combination of games to fall a certain way in order to strengthen their SOV and weaken the Patriots' SOV enough to give them a better strength of victory. (In case you were wondering, if the Bengals and Patriots finish with the same strength of victory, the next tiebreaker is strength of schedule, the total W-L record of all opponents, and New England has already clinched that tiebreaker.)

Here's the scenario if both teams win.

The following results MUST happen:

• PIT beats MIA
  


• CLE beats JAX
  

FIVE of the following must happen:

• IND beats BUF (counts as two!)
  


• NO beats CAR
  


• GB beats ARI
  


• KC beats DEN
  


• BAL beats OAK
  


• SEA beats TEN
  

So there's the list for Bengals fans hoping for a better seed!