The final week of the NFL season is just about in the books, and the playoff picture is finalized with the exception of the AFC North champion, which will be decided on "Sunday Night Football."
During Sunday's action, the Denver Broncos beat the Los Angeles Chargers to wrap up the No. 1 seed in the AFC, the New England Patriots defeated the Miami Dolphins to capture the No. 2 seed, and the Jacksonville Jaguars topped the Tennessee Titans to obtain the No. 3 seed.
Elsewhere, the Houston Texans claimed the No. 5 seed with their win over the Indianapolis Colts, the Buffalo Bills landed the No. 6 seed with their victory over the New York Jets, and the Chargers ended with the No. 7 seed thanks to their loss to the Broncos.
Over in the NFC, the Seattle Seahawks are the No. 1 seed thanks to their Saturday night win over the San Francisco 49ers, who landed at No. 6 in the conference after the Los Angeles Rams claimed the No. 5 spot with their win over the Arizona Cardinals.
The Chicago Bears lost to the Detroit Lions on Sunday but still landed the No. 2 seed in the conference because the Philadelphia Eagles lost to the Washington Commanders to remain in the No. 3 spot. The Carolina Panthers clinched the No. 4 seed despite losing to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Saturday, thanks to the Atlanta Falcons' win over the New Orleans Saints. The Green Bay Packers were already locked into the No. 7 seed despite losing to the Minnesota Vikings.
Elsewhere, the top of the draft order received a shakeup, though the Las Vegas Raiders maintained the top pick in the draft. Thanks to their win over the Dallas Cowboys and results elsewhere, the New York Giants dropped to the No. 5 pick, while the Jets leaped to No. 2, the Cardinals landed at No. 3, and the Titans moved to No. 4.
The Cleveland Browns scored an upset over the Cincinnati Bengals and dropped to the No. 6 pick, and the Commanders ended up at No. 7 due to their win over the Eagles. The rest of the top 10 is made up of the Saints, the Kansas City Chiefs and the Bengals, thanks to Sunday's various results.
Saturday scores
Buccaneers 16, Panthers 14 (Takeaways)
Seahawks 13, 49ers 3 (Takeaways)
Sunday scores
Browns 20, Bengals 18 (Recap)
Giants 34, Cowboys 17 (Recap)
Vikings 16, Packers 3 (Recap)
Texans 38, Colts 30 (Recap)
Falcons 19, Saints 17 (Recap)
Jaguars 41, Titans 7 (Recap)
Rams 37, Cardinals 20 (Recap)
Lions 19, Bears 16 (Recap)
Raiders 14, Chiefs 12 (Recap)
Broncos 19, Chargers 3 (Recap)
Patriots 38, Dolphins 10 (Recap)
Bills 35, Jets 8 (Recap)
Commanders 24, Eagles 17 (Recap)
Ravens at Steelers (8:20 p.m., Preview)
x-clinched playoff berth; z-clinched division
After the Broncos and Patriots both won this afternoon, the AFC playoff field is almost set. All that needs to be decided is the AFC North champion, which will happen tonight in the Ravens-Steelers game in Pittsburgh.
The first-round matchups:
The Raiders haven't had much to be excited about this season, but it's nice to defeat the Chiefs on a game-winning field goal while also locking in the No. 1 overall pick in the draft.
Is it possible Travis Kelce's final NFL game could be a loss to the Raiders?
The Eagles will be the No. 3 seed in the NFC, as Tanner McKee and Co. were defeated by the rival Commanders, 24-17. If Philly won, it would have been the No. 2 seed, and scheduled to host the No. 7 Green Bay Packers. Instead, they will host the San Francisco 49ers.
After the Bears and Eagles both lost and the Rams won this afternoon, the NFC playoff field is now set.
The first-round matchups:
Detroit upset Chicago at Soldier Field, 19-16 on a Jake Bates field goal as time expired. The Bears came back from down 16-0 to tie the game but ultimately couldn't put together a game-winning drive and then yielded one to Detroit. The Bears now need the Eagles to lose to the Commanders (they are down 24-17) to hold onto the No. 2 seed in the NFC.
Denver's offense has only managed to put together four field goal drives today, but Ja'Quan McMillian's pick six and the Chargers' offensive ineptitude with their backups in the game has led the Broncos to be up 19-3 with just a few minutes remaining in the game. Barring a miracle comeback, the Broncos will be the No. 1 seed in the AFC.
Josh Johnson is showing you why this Washington franchise likes him so much. He just ran in a touchdown himself on third-and-goal, and the Commanders find themselves up seven points with two minutes remaining in the fourth quarter. Philly will be either the No. 2 or No. 3 seed in the NFC.
The Rams will move to 12-5, as they are mere minutes away from defeating the rival Arizona Cardinals. Matthew Stafford has four passing touchdowns on the day, and Colby Parkinson has caught two of them.
Kevin Byard comes away with the interception here on a tipped pass on third-and-20. This was set up by an intentional grounding penalty on the previous play where Goff and Amon-Ra St. Brown had a miscommunication on the route. Incredibly, the Bears now have a chance to drive for the win after trailing 16-0 earlier in the fourth quarter.
Who said Week 18 wasn't fun? Josh Johnson just led a nine-play, 65-yard drive that ended with a John Bates touchdown.
Tie game at 17 apiece. Speaking of ties, the Lions and Bears are also tied at 16 apiece. Who will be the No. 2 seed in the NFC?
Chicago has once again stormed back from a double-digit deficit to tie the game late. It's Colston Loveland with a great grab in the back of the end zone on the touchdown and then Cole Kmet with perhaps an even better one over the middle on the two-point conversion. Classic stuff from the Bears, in keeping with what they've been doing the entire year.
TreVeyon Henderson now has his second touchdown of the day, joining Rhamondre Stevenson with multiple scores. It's all but over as the Pats will be either the No. 1 or (more likely) 2 seed in the AFC with their probable win over the Dolphins.
It's been a back-and-forth affair in Los Angeles, but the Rams have stolen back the lead late in the third quarter thanks to this diving Colby Parkinson touchdown. On the flip side, this Rams defense needs to find a way to stop Michael Wilson.
The Bears finally have some points in their game against the Lions. It took until the fourth quarter but Caleb Williams found Jahdae Walker over the top for six. The Bears converted the two-point try to make it a 16-8 game, so it's a one-score contest. Williams also broke the Bears' single-season passing yardage record with this pass, surpassing Erik Kramer's 3,828 yards in 1995.
Here's Stevenson's third touchdown of the game, and his second on the ground. He now has five touchdowns over the last two weeks. Since returning from his toe injury, Stevenson has been really good alongside TreVeyon Henderson. The Pats are rolling over Miami.
Maye has been relatively quiet through the early parts of this game against the Dolphins but just tossed his first touchdown pass of the day, finding Rhamondre Stevenson over the top for the score. He's now 9 of 13 for 128 yards and a touchdown midway through the third quarter as he looks to cap a possible MVP season.
The Philadelphia Eagles cashed in after Josh Johnson's turnover with Tank Bigsby punching in a goal-line touchdown. This gives Philly the 14-10 lead midway through the third quarter. That's a rather significant development considering the Lions are currently beating the Bears. If both scores hold, the Eagles would jump up to the No. 2 seed in the conference.
Quinn Ewers tried to tie the game for the Dolphins with this throw rolling to his left, but Hawkins had other ideas. Patriots still trying to hang onto the 2 seed in the AFC and potentially land the 1 if the Chargers can knock off the Broncos.
Even with Philly taking its foot off the gas, they are in position to either knot the game at 10 or take the lead with a touchdown. This opportunity comes after Josh Johnson let the snap slip through his hands, and the Eagles were able to jump on it for the turnover.
The Bears got a little bit of a drive going on their second possession of the third quarter, including a fourth-down conversion on an offsides penalty. But soon after that, Caleb Williams tried to uncork a throw down the field to D.J. Moore, only to see it sail a little bit and land in the arms of Avonte Maddox. The Bears are still down 13-0 as they look to wrap up the No. 2 seed in the NFC.
Arizona isn't going into the offseason quietly. Suddenly, it's only a 16-13 lead by the Rams thanks to some tricky on the part of the Cardinals. Faced with a fourth-and-8, the Cardinals deployed a successful fake punt that moved the sticks with Demercado scampering for 28 yards. On the very next play, Jacoby Brissett uncorked a 43-yard touchdown to Michael Wilson.
The Eagles and Commies are tied late in the first half. Philly briefly got some new life with an interception by Hunt dropping into coverage and diving to pick the ball off the ground and give the Eagles possession. The Eagles had a chance to score later in their drive but a miscommunication between McKee and Jahan Dotson led to a pick by Reaves, robbing Philly of the scoring opportunity.
It's been all field goals early on in this Rams-Cardinals game. Not anymore. After Nacua seemingly had a touchdown on second-and-goal but was ultimately ruled down short of the goal line, he got into the end zone on fourth-and-goal with this ridiculous one-handed grab in the back of the end zone on a one-step fade. Rams lead 13-6 as they try to get to the No. 5 seed in the NFC.
As mentioned, Chicago is down two scores at home against the Lions. The Bears punted on their first two drives to they went for it on fourth down near midfield this time and converted with a pass from Caleb Williams to Colston Loveland to keep the chains moving. They're still down 13-0 at the two-minute warning but have the ball in Lions territory.
New England got stoned on this inside sweep to TreVeyon Henderson as it was driving to try to push the lead back to two scores against the Dolphins. Right after this, though, the Pats forced a fumble by Jaylen Wright and got the ball back in Dolphins territory.
Danger zone approaching for the Bears, who now trail the Lions 13-0 after Detroit went on yet another extended drive but punched this one into the end zone with this touchdown grab by Gibbs. It's his 18th end-zone trip of the year.
It's all backups playing for the Eagles against the Commanders but the game still technically matters for seeding purposes as if the Eagles win and the Bears lose, Philly will land the No. 2 seed in the NFC. Those efforts to win took a hit here, though, with a touchdown run by Chris Rodrogiez.
Chicago is fighting to maintain the No. 2 seed in the NFC, but is trailing 6-0 early in the second quarter of its game against the Lions. Detroit has had the ball twice and run 27 plays for 121 yards and kicked two field goals. In between those drives, the Bears punted on their only possession so far. They have a chance coming up to take their first lead of the game.
He has done it! It took a full 17 games, but Myles Garrett has now recorded more sacks than any other player in a single season in NFL history. With this takedown of Joe Burrow he is up to 23 sacks.
Miami drove down the field into the red zone on its first drive, only to be stoned on a fourth down. The Dolphins drove down the field into the red zone on their second drive, and this time came away with a touchdown to cut into New England's lead. Nice play-action fake here from Ewers to get Washington open in the back of the end zone.
