Week 18 of the NFL regular season saw numerous teams fighting for playoff spots and key seedings.
Going into the weekend, the Kansas City Chiefs and Buffalo Bills had already secured the 1st and 2nd seeds in the AFC respectively, while the Philadelphia Eagles, LA Rams and Houston Texans had guaranteed a playoff spot with home-field advantage, in the first round. Nonetheless, there was still much to play for, and plenty of storylines unfolded across the final slate of fixtures.
The two Saturday fixtures saw the AFC North division up for grabs, with the Baltimore Ravens and Pittsburgh Steelers both vying for the division championship. Behind MVP frontrunner Lamar Jackson, It was Baltimore that took home the gold, with a dominant 35-10 win over the Cleveland Browns. The Pittsburgh Steelers and Cincinnati Bengals battled all night, however in the end it was the Bengals who held on to win 19-17. Reflecting on the night, Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin said “We certainly had our opportunities to win the game but we didn’t”.
Ultimately, the Steeler’s 10-7 record on the season was enough for a playoff berth regardless of whether or not they won the division but not the home-field advantage that Baltimore will benefit from in the wildcard round. Meanwhile Cincinnati, despite an excellent season from quarterback Joe Burrow, would require the Denver Broncos to lose to the Chiefs on Sunday to stay in the playoffs.
Sunday started with two key battles in the NFC. The Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Atlanta Falcons were competing for the NFC South championship, with neither team having a strong enough record to make the playoffs without it. The Bucs struggled in their fixture against the New Orleans Saints, while Atlanta was unable to pull away from a resurging Carolina Panthers team. Ultimately it was Atlanta that lost behind an immense performance from Panthers QB, Bryce Young who’s 5 TDs downed the playoff hopefuls and allowed Tampa to take the division behind their 27-19 win over New Orleans.
Meanwhile, the Green Bay Packers and Washington Commanders were in contention for the NFC’s 6th seed, both teams eager to avoid the 7th seed and the tough matchup against the 2nd seed. The Packers were playing against their old rivals the Chicago Bears, while Washington needed to beat the Dallas Cowboys to secure the seed. With both games drawing to a close, it seemed Green Bay had done enough, a late field goal saw them take a slim lead over Chicago, while Washington were trailing 19-16 late against Dallas. However, within seconds of each other, Chicago hit a last-gasp field goal to steal the game against Green Bay, while Washington’s Jayden Daniels connected with receiver Terry McLaurin for a touchdown to seal the win and the 6th seed. The win for Chicago snapped an 11-game losing streak against their division rivals.
The Denver Broncos needed a win against the 15-1 Kansas City Chiefs to take the last playoff spot in the AFC. Although the Chiefs having such a strong record this year worked in the favour of Denver. With the 1st seed and a bye to the second round already secure, Kansas rested all of their key players including Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce, allowing Denver to win in a 38-0 blowout and take the 7th seed over Cincinnati.
The biggest matchup of the day was in Detroit as the Lions hosted the Minnesota Vikings. While the AFC 1st seed had already been decided, it was a completely different story in the NFC, with the two bitter rivals, having identical 14-2 records, battling it out for both the NFC North division and the 1 seed. In the end, the match itself failed to live up to the occasion. Jahmyr Gibbs ran riot for the hosts, running in 4 touchdowns as Detroit won by a comfortable scoreline of 31-9. Vikings quarterback Sam Darnold finished his Cinderella regular season with an abysmal performance, failing to convert several key touchdown opportunities, leaving three field goals as Minnesota’s only output for the game.
With the regular season concluded our Wildcard Round fixtures are set in stone.
AFC Bracket
- (1) Chiefs receive a bye
- (2) Bills vs. (7) Broncos
- (3) Ravens vs. (6) Steelers
- (4) Texans vs. (5) Chargers
NFC Bracket
(4) Rams vs. (5) Vikings
(1) Lions receive a bye
(2) Eagles vs. (7) Packers
(3) Buccaneers vs. (6) Commanders
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