Kickoff time for the Bills at Bengals showdown has been pushed back to Monday night. Here’s why.

Kickoff time for “Monday Night Football” is usually 8:15 PM ET, but that will change for the Week 17 showdown between the Bills and the Bengals.

This week, the game will start 15 minutes later, with a new kickoff time of 8:30 PM ET. The delay is in place to allow ESPN to prepare for the Rose Bowl, which kicks off Monday at 5pm ET, with Penn State playing Utah.

All sports networks will be showing the entire Rose Bowl before switching to Monday night games. With the Rose Bowl likely still on when the Bills-Bengals kick off, ESPN on ABC he will also televise the NFL game so no one misses a single down.

The game in Cincinnati is the final Monday Night game of the regular season and should be a hotly contested one. For one thing, it’s an unprecedented showdown for a late Monday game this season. The two teams’ combined wins of 23 are the most tied in a game on Monday. The only other game to reach that mark was in 1997 when the 12-2 49ers played against the 11-3 Broncos (Denver lost that game but went on to win the Super Bowl that year). rice field).

The Bengals (11-4) came into the game knowing a win would overwhelm the AFC North, while the Bills (12-3) knew a win would put them in the driver’s seat for No. 1 overall. know and participate in the game. AFC playoff seed.

A win for the Bengals would guarantee at least the 3rd seed in the AFC and open up a potential 1st seed overall. However, the Bengals not only need to beat the Bills on Monday and the Ravens next week for the top seed, but they also need the Chiefs to lose to the Raiders in his Week 17.

A victory for the Bills would allow them to move past Kansas City as the top seed in the AFC and secure the top spot officially with a victory over the Patriots in Week 18.

The game will be the first time the Bills and Bengals will face each other in January since January 1989, when Cincinnati beat the Buffaloes in the AFC title game.