The NFL season has come down to one final Sunday. Week 18 presents numerous playoff and draft order scenarios and while we won’t go over all 300+, we will go through each game and gloss over the validity of it and the possible outcomes.
First we need to take a look at the current picture:
NFC:
Packers 13-3(Clinched top seed and bye)
Rams 12-4(Clinched playoff spot)
Buccaneers 12-4(Clinched NFC South)
Cowboys 11-5(Clinched NFC East)
Cardinals 11-5(Clinched playoff spot)
49ers 9-7
Eagles 9-7 (Clinched playoff spot, but lose tiebreaker to SF)
IN THE HUNT:
Saints 8-8
It’s straightforward. A 49ers loss to the Rams coupled with a Saints victory over the lowly Falcons puts New Orleans in the postseason at 9-8 as the seven seed.
Meanwhile, the NFC West remains up for grabs with all LA needing to do is top San Fran to claim that title or else put fate in the Cardinals hands as they gear up to face Russel Wilson and the 6-10 Seahawks on Sunday. Everything else is pretty much set.
AFC:
Titans 11-5(Clinched AFC South)
Chiefs 11-5(Clinched AFC West)
Bengals 10-6(Clinched AFC North)
Bills 10-6(Clinched playoff spot)
Patriots 10-6(Clinched playoff spot)
Colts 9-7
Chargers 9-7
IN THE HUNT:
Raiders 9-7
Steelers 8-7-1
Ravens 8-8
Welcome to Chaosville! Let’s sort through the madness with the upcoming games.
Chiefs vs Broncos:
KC going for 1 seed, and can accomplish that with a win on Saturday + a Titans loss on Sunday. Remember when the Chiefs were 3-4 and on the outside looking in? What a difference an eight game win streak makes. Denver meanwhile is finished and just looking to play spoiler at 7-9.
Pats vs Dolphins
Macs Jones, Bill Bellichek and CO have an outside shot at the AFC East , but are also looking to nail down 5 seed which can be accomplished with a victory against the 8-8 Dolphins. Both teams submitted seven game win streaks this season almost simultaneously, but the difference ha sheen New England’s 3-6 record compared to Miami’s 1-8 showing outside of those games.
Steelers(8-7-1) vs Ravens(8-8)
May not matter but the winner guarantees themselves at least a shot at getting In later on I’ll go more in depth in a later game but I wanted to use this opportunity to give my own round of applause for Big Ben Roethlisberger who played in his final home game of his illustrious 18 year stint with the black and yellow this past Monday. It was an emotional night, one that saw Ben take a victory lap around Heinz Field to soak all of the fan support in, moments after their 19-14 win over the Browns.
Browns vs Bengals
It’s been puzzling this season on how exactly to judge the guys from the jungle but after their 34-31 thrilling victory over the Chiefs in week 17, we can officially pronounce them as AFC North champions for the first time since 2016. The tandem of Joe Burrow( 366-520, 4,611 yards, 34TD’s) and Jamarr Chase( 79 REC, 1,429 YDS, 13 TD) has put Bengals football back on the map.
Cincy looking for one seed and can get it with win and losses by Titans and Chiefs.
Cleveland meanwhile is looking to finish what has been a disappointing season strong as they enter with a 7-9 record.
Titans vs Texans:
Will the Titans lock the bye down? They’re somehow here by treading water at 3-3 in Derrick Henry’s absence and now get him back for the regular season finale and beyond. A Texans(4-12) loss solidifies the first pick. A loss and the door opens for the Chiefs and Bengals on one end, as well as the Jets and Giants on the other end.
Colts vs Jags:
Jaxonville(2-14) still has a shot at the first pick with a loss or a Lions(2-13-1) win doing that. But a win over Indy keeps their home win streak against them alive and creates openings for the Steelers-Ravens winner but can also create an intentional tie between the Chargers and Raiders for the final two spots.
Jets vs Bills:
Gang Green(4-12) currently owns the fourth pick and a loss +a HOU win moves that up to 3. Meanwhile, A Buffalo wins locks up the AFC East title which they essentially received after their 33-21 outclassing in New England two weeks ago.
Chargers vs Raiders:
Winner is in on Sunday Night football. No matter what happens throughout the day in the AFC, it will come down to this one way or another. A colts win means one of these teams must win. An Indy loss means both teams can tie and get in but both still need to play the game so wit will be interesting to see how that goes. This also matters for Pittsburg in the case Indy falls, because a tie means they’re the odd man out of the potential three 9-7-1 teams. As for Baltimore, they can win and see an Indy defeat but a tie between these two teams would then nullify all of that.
CURRENT DRAFT ORDER:
Jaguars 2-14
Lions 2-13-1
Texans 4-12
Jets 4-12
Giants 4-12
Panthers 5-11
Seahawks(Jets get pick) 6-10
Bears(Giants get pick) 6-10
Washington 6-10
TOILET BOWLS:
Washington vs Giants
Bears vs Vikings
OTHER MEANINGLESS GAMES:
Panther vs Bucs
Packers vs Lions
Cowboys vs Eagles
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