CLEVELAND, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) - The Cleveland Browns secured the No. 5 seed in the AFC Sunday afternoon and will face the winner of the AFC South on Wild Card weekend.
Baltimore's 56-19 rout of the Miami Dolphins locked up the AFC North and No. 1 seed in the conference for the Ravens.
The Browns, who are the last team to beat Baltimore after rallying late in the fourth quarter for a 33-31 Week 10 win, clinched their second playoff berth in four years under head coach Kevin Stefanski by beating the New York Jets Thursday night at home, 37-20, for their 11th victory of the season.
The Browns end the regular season at Cincinnati Sunday afternoon at 1 and Stefanski acknoweleged Friday he may sit key players if the game doesn't impact the Browns' playoff picture, which it does not.
"We'll see how it plays out on Sunday and then we will make the appropriate decisions," Stefanski said. "But it doesn't change the fact that we want to finish strong."
A win over the Bengals, who were eliminated from playoff contention following a 25-17 loss to the Chiefs, would tie the franchise record set in 1986 for the most wins in the regular season with 12.
The 9-7 Jaguars, who are 4-1 within their division, play at 5-11 Tennessee Sunday at 1 and Jacksonville will clinch the South with a win. A Jaguars loss to the Titans would mean the winner of the 9-7 Colts and 9-7 Texans Saturday night in Indianapolis next week would win the division and then host the Browns the following weekend. The winner between Houston and Indianapolis could still clinch a Wild Card even if Jacksonville does win the South.
