Bengals-Bills will bring out the best

Monday night’s Bills-Bengals game in Cincinnati will be the first matchup between Joe Burrow and Josh Allen.

For a regular-season game, it doesn’t get much bigger than this.

The game could determine the AFC’s No. 1 seed and first-round bye. It’s currently a race between the 12-3 Bills, 12-3 Chiefs, and 11-4 Bengals, but the Bills and Bengals have head-to-head wins over the Chiefs. Whoever wins Monday gets a season sweep over the other two top AFC teams.

The game could also determine the MVP. Burrow and Allen are the only two players this season with 4,000 passing yards, 30 passing touchdowns, and 5 rushing touchdowns. MVP often goes to the quarterback on the best team, so if this game determines the No. 1 seed in the AFC, it very well could determine whether Burrow or Allen wins his first MVP — though Patrick Mahomes,

Jalen Hurts, and Justin Jefferson will have something to say about it.

ESPN has had some ugly games of late, but Bengals-Bills will be the third “Monday Night Football” game ever to feature two teams with at least 11 wins. The Bengals enter with a seven-game win streak, and the Bills on a six-game streak. The 66 combined touchdown passes by Burrow and Allen — who, coincidentally, both train with quarterbacks coach Jordan Palmer in the offseason — are the most entering a “MNF” game.

“There’s no secrets about why he’s so good,” Burrow said of Allen. “He’s fun to watch — runs around, makes plays, makes throws that nobody else can make. It’s going to be fun to go against him.”