The final week of the NFL season is always a chaotic time, but the first Week 18 in league history has taken that to a whole new level.
Thanks to some of the early results, the final AFC playoff spot will be on the line when the Raiders host the Chargers. The winner of that game will advance to the post-season, but if they tie, they both will get in thanks to an earlier loss by the Colts and win by the Steelers.
While it seems unlikely two AFC West rivals would play for a tie, it does set up some interesting scenarios for the final game of the season. But before we get to that, here is a look at how the other games on the final Sunday of the regular season played out.
Steelers eliminate Ravens, on verge of playoffs after overtime win
BALTIMORE — Ben Roethlisberger delayed his retirement for a few hours and probably longer, guiding Pittsburgh to a 16-13 overtime win over the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday that left the Steelers on the verge of an improbable playoff berth.
Chris Boswell made a 36-yard field goal with 1:56 remaining to win the game for the Steelers, who will now make the postseason as long as Sunday night’s Chargers-Raiders game doesn’t end in a tie. Roethlisberger set up the winning kick when he completed a 10-yard pass over the middle to Ray-Ray McCloud on fourth-and-8 from the Baltimore 41.
The Steelers (9-7-1) and Ravens (8-9) would have both been eliminated if this game had ended in a tie.
After the winning field goal, Roethlisberger held up his right fist in celebration and went slowly to the middle of the field to commiserate with Ravens linebacker Justin Houston.
Both Baltimore and Pittsburgh had slim playoff hopes coming in. The Steelers needed to win and have Indianapolis lose to Jacksonville to have any chance of extending Roethlisberger’s career with a postseason appearance. The Ravens needed a win, a loss by the Colts – and losses by the Dolphins and Chargers later in the day.
Jaguars upset Colts, still secure No. 1 pick in 2022 draft
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The Indianapolis Colts badly botched a chance to secure an AFC wild-card spot by losing at Jacksonville 26-11 Sunday in the “clown game,” their seventh consecutive road loss to the Jaguars.
The Colts got clowned.
NFL rushing champion Jonathan Taylor was held to 77 yards, Carson Wentz turned the ball over twice – leading to 10 points – and Indy (9-8) did little to stop the woeful Jaguars (3-14).
The Colts looked more like the ones who should have been decked out in giant bow ties, face paint and colourful wigs and suspenders.
With a playoff berth on the line, Indianapolis was a no-show on an 80-degree day in Jacksonville.
The 15-point outcome could have been a bigger blowout had the Jags scored touchdowns instead of settling for two chip-shot field goals from inside the 5-yard line. Nonetheless, Jacksonville experienced breathing room in a game for the first time all season.
Tannehill paces Titans to clinch top AFC seed with win over Texans
HOUSTON – Ryan Tannehill tied a career-high with four touchdown passes to help the Tennessee Titans clinch the top seed in the AFC with a 28-25 win over the Houston Texans on Sunday.
The 12-5 Titans, who secured their second straight AFC South title last week, have the No. 1 seed in the AFC for the third time since leaving Houston in 1997 and first since 2008. They also have a first-round bye.
Tannehill threw three touchdown passes in the second quarter to put the Titans up 21-0 at halftime.
But the Texans (4-13) came alive in the second half, scoring 18 unanswered points to get within 3 before Julio Jones caught his first touchdown pass of the season on a 3-yard grab that made it 28-18 with about seven minutes remaining.
Houston cut the lead to 3 again when Danny Amendola’s second touchdown reception of the game made it 28-25 with 4 1/2 minutes to go. Tennessee got a first down on third-and-2 with about three minutes left and ran out the clock to secure the victory.
Lions close season with upset win over Packers
DETROIT – Aaron Rodgers threw two touchdown passes in the first half and sat out the second half with nothing at stake as the Detroit Lions beat the top-seeded Green Bay Packers 37-30 Sunday.
Backup Jordan Love threw two interceptions late in the game, sealing a defeat that didn’t affect Green Bay’s playoff positioning.
The NFC North champion Packers (13-4) rolled into the Motor City after already clinching the conference’s No. 1 seed and its only first-round bye.
Rodgers, the reigning NFL MVP who may win the award for a fourth time, was 14 of 18 for 138 yards.
He threw a 1-yard pass to Allen Lazard to cap a 13-play, 74-yard drive that took 7:18 off the clock to open the game and a 29-yard pass to the fourth-year receiver late in the second quarter for another score.
Rodgers replaced his helmet with a baseball cap at halftime and watched the rest of the game from the sideline out of harm’s way.
Cousins throws three touchdowns as Vikings rally to beat Bears
MINNEAPOLIS — Kirk Cousins passed for 172 yards and three touchdowns in the second half to lead a Minnesota Vikings comeback to beat the Chicago Bears 31-17 on Sunday in a matchup of two eliminated teams with a head coach in danger of being fired.
Justin Jefferson had the tying score and K.J. Osborn caught the go-ahead touchdown for the Vikings (8-9), who gave coach Mike Zimmer plenty to cheer in this pad-the-stats game while outscoring the Bears 28-3 after halftime.
Bears coach Matt Nagy elected to go for it on fourth down six times, failing on all but one of them. Andy Dalton took three sacks and threw an interception, and Patrick Peterson picked him off late in the fourth quarter and turned it into a 66-yard touchdown return.
Darnell Mooney had 12 catches for 126 yards to pass the 1,000-yard receiving mark for the Bears (6-11), who are 30-35 in four seasons under Nagy without a win in the playoffs.
Gibson’s big ground game earns Washington big win over Giants
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – Antonio Gibson ran for a career-high 146 yards, scored a touchdown and capped his first 1,000-yard rushing season by leading Washington to a 22-7 victory over New York on Sunday in what might have been Dave Gettleman’s final game as the Giants’ general manager.
Bobby McCain returned the first of his two interceptions 30 yards for a touchdown, and Joey Slye kicked three field goals as Washington (7-10) finished a season in which it went from division winners a year ago to an also-ran.
Third-stringer Jake Fromm threw a 22-yard fourth-quarter touchdown to Darius Slayton as the Giants (4-13) finished a miserable second season under Joe Judge with a six-game losing streak.
Gettleman’s four-year tenure as GM is likely over after a fourth-straight double-digit losing season. This one was marked by injuries, including one that sidelined quarterback Daniel Jones the last six weeks.
Judge’s status depends on what co-owners John Mara and Steve Tisch want. He has a group that plays hard, but just doesn’t have enough talent – particularly on the offensive line.
