Browns vs. Bengals NFL Week 18 odds, props: Cleveland sitting Joe Flacco in meaningless game would complicate 2023 NFL Comeback Player of the Year Award push

There are three NFL Week 18 games that have zero bearing on the upcoming playoffs, including the Cleveland Browns at the Cincinnati Bengals. The Browns are locked into the AFC's top wild card seed, and the Bengals are eliminated from postseason contention. Thus, Cleveland coach Kevin Stefanski might rest quarterback Joe Flacco and other starters, which could all but end Flacco's run at an unlikely NFL Comeback Player of the Year Award. Update: Flacco won't start and Jeff Driskel will. 

Flacco wasn't even a betting option at most books for Comeback Player of the Year for most of this season because he wasn't in the league. As late as mid-November, the former Super Bowl MVP was not on a NFL team for the first time since his last year of college at Delaware in 2007. However, Cleveland lost Deshaun Watson for the season and signed Flacco to the practice squad on Nov. 20 and to the 53-man roster on Dec. 14.

All he has done is lead the Browns to four straight wins and that playoff spot, throwing for at least 300 yards in each game – his longest career 300-yard streak. Cleveland has become the first team in NFL history to make the playoffs with four quarterbacks making multiple starts (Watson, Flacco, Dorian Thompson-Robinson and PJ Walker) and the only playoff team since 1970 without Week 1 starters at quarterback, running back (Pro Bowler Nick Chubb), left tackle and right tackle.

Stefanski is all but a lock to win NFL Coach of the Year for the second time (he won in 2020). He's the -1000 favorite at DraftKings and the first Browns coach since Paul Brown to lead the team to multiple 11-win regular seasons.

Cleveland will visit the AFC South champion – Jacksonville, Houston or Indianapolis – on Wild Card Weekend, so Stefanski has to decide if resting Flacco and other starters is more important than maintaining momentum. Nearly every NFL head coach will err on the side of caution. That Cleveland is a 6-point underdog tells you what oddsmakers think will happen.

"We're working through all those things," Stefanski said earlier this week. "We'll have a plan. Obviously, we want to finish strong, so we'll have a plan moving forward."

A week off could potentially be costly for Flacco. He's now a +100 second favorite to win Comeback Player of the Year behind Bills safety Damar Hamlin (-140), who has been favored all season simply by virtue of returning to action after nearly dying on the field in Cincinnati in Week 17 last season. There is no official criteria for the award. Cleveland has never had a winner, but a quarterback has won it for five straight seasons.

In addition, Flacco could be out some cash as he makes $75,000 for every win. He's made $225,000 that way so far -- his first win on Dec. 10 was before he signed his new deal. We should get a good idea Wednesday of what the Browns will do when they take the field for their first full practice. It's highly likely that any banged-up starters like top wideout Amari Cooper, who missed Week 17, will not play.

A victory Sunday would give the Browns 12 regular-season wins for just the second time in franchise history. They went 12-4 in 1986. Cleveland has already surpassed its preseason over/under betting win total of 9.5. At 8-8, Cincinnati will finish well below its preseason total of 11.5. 

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