Since teams have already clinched playoffs berth and scenarios will start playing out in the next month, I thought it was a good time to start this thread. A few things to get started.
I think any of the 7 teams that make the NFC playoffs can get to the Super Bowl.
Chiefs will get the bye then lose their first playoff game.
The NFC West may come down to the last week: Seahawks vs Rams. Might get flexed to the Sunday Night game or better yet Monday Night. Last time that happened with playoffs on the line, Marshawn Lynch had that great run where he literally knocked down Ram defenders and ran over them.
and the Seahawks won.
I am a lifelong Washington football fan, and as much as I’d like to believe you, i would bet you large piles of looty bonds that should they eke into the playoffs, they are not going to the Super Bowl.
I believe that there is no Sunday Night game nor a Monday Night game on the last week of the season. All games are played in either the early window or late window on Sunday the 5th of January. And IIRC, the NFL will attempt to schedule the games so that a particular team doesn’t know if it needs to win to make the playoffs, or if it can afford to rest its starters before the playoffs start the next week.
According to CoPilot, there has never been a MNF game played on the last week of the season, so every team will have the same number of days to prepare.
Well this season that started so promisingly for the San Francisco 49ers has developed into quite the disappointment. You’ll hear of Niners fans crying about injury this and injury that but, truth be told they’ve played quite lacklusterly through most of the season. They’ve lost that ‘eye of the tiger’, that killer instinct focus, especially on the defensive side of the ball. They still have the ability to make the playoffs and possibly go deep into them, but that would be a major surprise and out of the character they’ve defined for this season.
When John Lynch was a player he played great. He has not been able to develop that same toughness and character in this team that he played with in his career at Tampa. But the main flaw to me has been Kyle Shanahan. He’s considered one of the great offensive minds in the NFL but he’s lost three Super Bowls that should have been won, and his 2024 49ers lack the focus, discipline, and poise to be consistent winners. He’s been outcoached regularly this year. I stop short of calling for his head, but I’m close to it.
2024 has been disgusting for the 49ers.
That said, I hope the Detroit Lions go all the way. They need to stay healthy, but as the only NFC team to have never even made it to the Super Bowl I hope they run the table.
Was there another Beast Mode run like that other than the Beast Quake? That was New Orleans, but it’s entirely possible I don’t remember the one you’re referring to.
The NFC North dominance continues. As it appears now, the three top teams will not only make the playoffs, but probably be favorites in the wildcard round. Outside of playing each other, the Lions, Vikings, and Packers are 38-3. On top of that, they’re almost certainly favorites in every game for the rest of the season. Unfortunate for the possible record four teams in the playoffs, the Bears still suck. Even before that dead cat splatter yesterday, there was a solid chance of the Bears not winning a single game the rest of the season.
The season ends for all teams on that final Sunday. And I too believe the NFL as much as possible schedules games so that no potential playoff team knows its fate before their final game starts. They did not used to do that but it’s much better now that they do.
You’re right. Last game is the Sunday Night game.
I don’t believe there is a SNF game on Week 18. And that’s because of exactly the reason that both @Bullitt and I have already outlined.
If the season ended today, the Lions would get the bye as the 1 seed.
The Eagles would be the 2 seed and host the Commanders.
The Seahawks would be the 3 seed and host the Packers.
The Bucs would be the 4 seed and host the Vikings.
Vikes would certainly be favored over the Bucs. And, considering that the Pack is favored this weekend in Seattle, they would probably be favored in the WC round as well.
I don’t think the Seahawks win the West. They get Green Bay and Minnesota before the Chicago freebie, then finishing with LA, while the Rams get the broken 49ers, the Jets, and Arizona before Week 18. Strangely enough, the Rams are also responsible for 2 out of the three NFCN trifecta’s non-division losses.
That is a rivalry even if no one else thinks so. And it is always a good game. Plus the Rams are one game behind so the Seahawks can afford to lose one and still have the final game be the playin game.
My probably won’t happen super bowl prediction: Rams-Steelers.
Much more likely, Lions-Bills.
Rams lost to Lions and Packers (and Bears). They only beat the Vikings. The non-division losses look like this:
- Lions lost to Bucs
- Vikings lost to Rams
- Packers lost to Eagles
For some reason I thought the Lions lost to the Rams, not the Bucs. Whoops.
He had a similar one later in Arizona. They even called it Beast Quake 2.0.
By my count he only shed four attempted tacklers in that one, while the original Beast Quake (in Seattle against the Saints 3 years earlier) had him shed twice as many (eight total; I went back and rewatched it to double-check). By “shed” I mean people who actually got their hands on him and couldn’t bring him down, I am not counting players he outran or dodged or otherwise avoided contacting in those runs.
I don’t remember a specific game against the Rams where he was doing that, but the “Marshawn Lynch running over people” is just how he played the game. Here is a compilation video of the “Top 5 Beast Mode Moments” where you see him doing that kind of thing. (Beast Mode and Beast Mode 2.0 are, of course, listed as #1 and #2 respectively in this montage.)
Seattle will probably never have a guy like him again, but I don’t think anyone else will either; he’s a unique player and person in a lot of ways.
Yesterday’s Bills @ Rams game was a fun shootout, won by the Rams 44-42. I’d love to see a Lions-Bills Super Bowl.
Oh wait, I misspelled BILLS. It’s an old joke: BILLLLS. I’m old enough to have watched those 4 in a row. The Bills should have won XXV.
Another correction: the NFCN trifecta is 28-3 against all others, not 38-3.
I’m still mad we didn’t get a Bills-Lions Super Bowl last time, and I don’t expect it this time either.
There was one last year - Bills/Dolphins to decide the AFC East champion
NFL announces Week 18 schedule for 2023 season with Bills-Dolphins on 'Sunday Night Football'
And 2022 it was Green Bay/Detroit:
NFL announces complete Week 18 schedule for 2022 season with Lions-Packers on 'Sunday Night Football'
I stand corrected.
That being the case, then it’s probably to decide a divisional championship. So this year it could be Vikings/Lions, or as @Saint_Cad suggested, Seahawks/Rams.
As a Giants fan, I’m glad they didn’t win.