Who is playing Sunday Night Football in Week 9?

There is no question that the decision not to flex a better matchup into Sunday Night Football was a very poor one from the NFL. The matchup between the Chicago Bears and Los Angeles Chargers was questionable when the schedule was released and got worse when Justin Fields got hurt, leading to a non-competitive 30-13 blowout in favor of the Chargers.

While most fans likely skipped Sunday night to spend some time with their families, that won't be the case in Week 9. NBC has to be thrilled with this week's game, which features two of the AFC's most dynamic teams set to face off in a game with massive postseason implications.

Who is playing on Sunday Night Football in Week 9?

The Week 9 Sunday night matchup is a highly anticipated playoff rematch between the 5-3 Buffalo Bills and 4-3 Cincinnati Bengals. The game will take place in Cincinnati, which is notable since that is the site of January's contest that went unfinished after Bills' safety Damar Hamlin went into cardiac arrest on the field.

The two teams met a few weeks later in the playoffs where Cincinnati went into Buffalo and beat up the Bills to advance to the NFC title game. There has been a bit of a hangover for Buffalo since that game as they enter this matchup playing sluggish football, surviving a late charge from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to get to 5-3 a week after losing to the mediocre New England Patriots.

Cincinnati is peaking right now, however, as they won their third consecutive game with a statement victory in Santa Clara over the San Francisco 49ers. Joe Burrow continued to look more like himself as his injured calf improves, completing 28-of-32 passes for 283 yards and three touchdowns in the 31-17 win.

These two teams are firmly in the AFC playoff picture and in second place in their respective divisions entering the contest. Momentum would seem to favor the Bengals but we've seen a lot of odd results this season.