NFL Week 18
NFL Winds Down: Final Two Playoff Spots on the Line
Week 18 will decide two divisions in starkly different ways, with the AFC North settled head-to-head in Pittsburgh as the Steelers and Ravens meet in a winner-take-all showdown. In the NFC South, Tampa Bay’s fate hinges entirely on the Saints–Falcons game, leaving one team crowned and another eliminated without taking the field.
The AFC North will be decided the old-fashioned way Sunday night in Pittsburgh. The Steelers host the Ravens with the division title and a home playoff game on the line. Pittsburgh enters at 9–7, Baltimore at 8–8, and there is no math, no help, no scoreboard watching. Win and you’re in. Lose and the season continues on the road.
The rivalry rarely produces blowouts and this one comes with added weight. For the Steelers, it is a chance to lock up the division in front of a home crowd and possibly the final start of Aaron Rodgers’ career. For the Ravens, it is a chance to salvage a turbulent season by ripping the division away in prime time. The winner takes the AFC North. The loser settles for a wild card.
The NFC South, by contrast, will be decided indirectly.
Tampa Bay kept itself alive Saturday with a narrow win over Carolina, improving to 8–9. That result did not clinch anything. Instead, it handed control of the division to Sunday’s Saints–Falcons game.
If New Orleans beats or ties Atlanta, Tampa Bay wins the NFC South without playing another snap. If Atlanta wins, the Falcons take the division at 8–9, while the Buccaneers are eliminated despite finishing the season with the same record.
That leaves two teams playing Sunday night with their fate entirely in their own hands, and two others watching from home, dependent on a game they cannot influence.
One division will be settled under the lights in Pittsburgh, helmets on and season on the line.The other will be settled on a couch, remote in hand, waiting for someone else to decide it.
That contrast says just about everything about how this regular season ends.