Somehow, the final day of regular-season football until September has arrived. The NFL’s Week 18 Sunday slate of games will be the beginning of the offseason for countless teams, and the start of the postseason for the successful few.
While there are always a share of duds in the last week, due to playoff elimination, seeding, and injury prevention, we still have a good number of storylines in Week 18.
The playoff bracket is not finished, the NFL Draft order could see some major shakeups, and, as always, it could mark the finale game for some older legends.
Here, I’ll go over five of those major Week 18 storylines, so all your bases are covered as you prepare to sit back and enjoy the final regular-season action until the fall; that still feels weird to write. How does time go so fast?
1. A Buccaneer, A Falcon, A Saint, and A Panther Walk Into Week 18
Two divisions in the NFL are absent of a confirmed playoff team; in the NFC, that division, perhaps predictably, is the NFC South.
The Buccaneers and Panthers both have a chance, but one of the two will finish the night as division champions. Thanks to the Rams’ major upset loss to the Falcons last week, the battle yesterday between Carolina and Tampa Bay didn’t settle the division.
With the Bucs’ win last night, they stayed alive and forced the following chaos.
https://twitter.com/NFL/status/2007610134093279241
If Atlanta wins today, there is a three-way tie in the NFC South for the division lead; the Panthers win that tiebreaker. If they lose in an upset to the Saints, the tiebreaker goes head-to-head between Carolina and Tampa, and Baker Mayfield’s Bucs own that slot.
So, all four NFC South teams walked into Week 18 with a role in determining the fate of the division; now, we figure out who wins the dance.
2. Steelers & Ravens Get Ultimate Rivarly Renewal On Sunday Night
Similarly, the AFC North is not settled, though this one is a bit easier to understand.
7:20 PM CST, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the Ravens and Steelers will battle it out for a division title and subsequent playoff berth. It doesn’t get much better than that.
At 8-8, a win for Lamar Jackson’s Baltimore squad would even them up with Pittsburgh, and the tiebreaker there does not go the Steelers’ way. If Mike Tomlin pulls out a win, it’s their 10th of the year and forces the Ravens into a losing season.
Baltimore is a three and a half to four-point favorite tonight, so the expectation is for them to clinch yet another AFC North title, but this Steelers team is as scrappy as they always are. It will be a fight.
3. Can History Be Made In A “Meaningless” Browns-Bengals Game?
Remaining in the AFC North, but diverging significantly from the playoff picture, we have what you would usually deem as a meaningless game between two bad, out-of-contention teams.
The Browns and Bengals will share the field today, and in doing so, some major NFL history could be made.
Myles Garrett, the All-Pro pass-rusher with a gold jacket in his future, has his eyes set on the league’s sack record today. He needs half a second to tie with Michael Strahan and T.J. Watt, and one full one to set a new mark.
Last week, he was shut out of sacking Aaron Rodgers as the Steelers put a completely ridiculous emphasis on chipping him nearly every play; this very clearly limited and hurt their offense.
The Bengals, with less to play for, probably won’t be as petty as Pittsburgh. If they allow Garrett even a few one-on-one snaps, we will likely see history in Cincinnati, Ohio.
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