Someone has to win the AFC North and NFC South, right? Right?
Well, tell that to the Steelers, Panthers and Buccaneers, all of whom have had the opportunity to either win a title or run away with a division title over the past few weeks.
Instead, we're heading to Week 18, where those two divisions are still available.
Let's start from the south. The Buccaneers started the season hot, heading into November and the bye week with a 6-2 record. But after their bye in week nine, everything went downhill.
Baker Mayfield and the Bucs went 1-7, played long stretches without stars Mike Evans, Chris Godwin and Bucky Irving, lost three straight division games and are now heading into a must-win Week 18 game.
They also suffered a four-game losing streak after losing to Quinn Evers (a seventh-rounder making his second career start) and the Miami Dolphins in a game riddled with mistakes.
“I think we need to put this (game) out of our heads because we need to get ourselves together before we worry about Carolina or anyone else,” head coach Todd Bowles said after the game. “We're just shooting ourselves in the foot every chance we get.
“If we play and do what we did today, we won’t go anywhere next week.”
At least Bowles admits that their downfall was their fault.
Tampa Bay's only win since its bye was against the 3-13 Cardinals, and a win over the 49ers on Oct. 12 marks its last victory over an opponent ranked above .500.
Then there's Bryce Young and the Carolina Panthers, who will be on the opposite line next Sunday and have been alternating wins and losses since mid-October.
The Panthers beat the Bucs just last week and now head to Tampa for a chance to capture the crown for the first time since Cam Newton led them to the top in 2015.
Carolina missed out on a title opportunity Sunday after a terrible offensive performance against the Seahawks, where it gained just 139 yards, 40 of which came through the air.
In the AFC, you have Mike Tomlin and his Steelers, who are allergic to nine- and ten-win seasons after Ben Roethlisberger's departure.
Pittsburgh waltzed into Huntington Bank Field with an AFC North title contender, but seemed more interested in preventing Myles Garrett from reaching the single-season sack record than actually winning the game.
The Steelers lost 13-6 to the now four-win Browns and will face the Ravens in Week 18 without top pass catcher DK Metcalf and six-foot-seven, 311-pound tight end Darnell Washington after he suffered a broken arm.
With the fantasy season now over and most teams having nothing left to win, at least these two divisional matchups will give football fans something to look forward to heading into the final week of the regular season.
Here are some more takeaways from the NFL from Week 17:
Nothing says you're on the rise like giving up 42 points in prime time against one of the best defenses without a star tight end.
This season, it's only the San Francisco 49ers – always able to overcome injuries, as they are 12-4 and have a chance to win the NFC next week.
This season, the 49ers have played games without starting QB Brock Purdy, WRs Ricky Pearsall and Jauan Jennings, TE George Kittle, DE Nick Bosa and LB Fred Warner, among many others.
But they continue to win and prove that they are among the elite in the NFC, despite the lack of star players.
Without Kittle, the 49ers beat the Chicago Bears 42-38 on Sunday in one of the most entertaining games of the year. It was a real fight: 7, 14, 21, 28 and 35 points – the first time this happened in the history of the regular season.
The win sets up an exciting Saturday night in which the winner between San Francisco and Seattle will earn the No. 1 seed and a first-round bye in the NFC.
On the other hand, the Bears were four yards away from a touchdown after winning the NFC North earlier in the week.
Caleb Williams looks the part, throwing two long touchdown passes (35, 36 yards) in about six minutes. The defense, which leads the league in scoring, recorded a pick six on the first play of the game.
But Purdy and company are a resilient team, and the Niners are the talk of NFL town as they ride a six-game winning streak through 2026.
Giants miss chance to get No. 1 pick
Once again, the New York Giants abandoned the tank.
The Giants entered Sunday's game against the lowly Raiders with a shot at the No. 1 overall pick in April's draft. But Jackson Dart and the G-Men had other plans: crush the Raiders 34-10 and hand them the keys to the No. 1 pick.
New York's win marks the second straight season in which it entered Week 17 with a shot at the top seed but came away with a win.
Last year seemed to go well for the Giants, selecting Abdul Carter with the third pick and then taking QB Jackson Dart, who appears to be the team's representative, at 25th overall.
Will the draft gods favor the Giants again after snuffing out the top pick? Let's see.
But let's give credit to the Giants for entertaining and keeping fans out of the bowl game at 4:05 pm ET.
Meanwhile, Las Vegas now has an 80 percent chance of getting the No. 1 seed and will seal it with a loss to the Chiefs in Week 18.
AFC East passes through New England again
For the first time since Tom Brady, the New England Patriots are East champions.
I don't want to take anything away from dismantling the New York Jets in New England on Sunday, but Pats fans might want to send some Happy New Year cards to the Philadelphia Eagles.
The Patriots needed a loss to Buffalo to clinch the title today, and the Eagles slipped away from Josh Allen and the Bills after a failed two-point conversion with just seconds left.
Allen has reigned supreme in the division since 2020, but now it's Drake May's turn.
May threw a career-high five touchdowns and only two incompletions in less than three quarters, cementing his team as one of the top seeds in the AFC and keeping them in the race for first place.
The chance of a first-round bye heading into Week 18 was a distant prospect early in the season, even among Pats fans. But a stunning story happened in Foxboro that completely changed the script after back-to-back four-win campaigns.
But behind all the team successes lie potential individual rewards, even if they only have two Pro Bowlers.
May, a sophomore QB, has moved closer to MVP status with his performance, and head coach Mike Vrabel is the favorite to win Coach of the Year honors in his first season at the helm in New England.
Tyler Shaw – the man from the series “The Big Easy”
Four straight wins for the New Orleans Saints. Should we just make them NFC South champions?
Just kidding, but the Saints are gaining momentum and look to have found their guy at center for the foreseeable future.
QB Tyler Shaw proves his doubters wrong by throwing for 333 yards and two scores on Sunday, his second straight 300-yard performance.
Since becoming the starter, the 26-year-old rookie has thrown for 1,664 yards and nine touchdowns, plus 152 more yards and two scores on the ground.
But most importantly, New Orleans is 5-3 when Shaw starts.
Shaw proved that an offense that has been without Alvin Kamara since Week 12 can function at a high level without its star quarterback. Chris Olave topped the 1,000-yard mark again, while TE Juwan Johnson had career-best seasons in catches (74) and yards (828).
The Saints still have a ways to go before reclaiming the division title, but with Shaw's development, the culture instilled by freshman HC Kellen Moore and a wide-open division, New Orleans could become kings of the South sooner rather than later.
Cardinals fans, I hope you asked for 21 more Trey McBrides for Christmas.
If not, be grateful you have one because the other 31 teams wished they had.
McBride separated himself from the rest of the team on Sunday by catching 10 passes, giving him 119 on the year, and eclipsed Zach Ertz (116 in 2018) for most TE receptions on the season.
The 26-year-old has been one of the few bright spots in a terrible season for an Arizona team that has started nearly as many QBs as it has won.
It's almost certain that McBride will have a new QB next season, but the star TE has already proven that it doesn't matter who throws him the ball.
In a 2026 season that may not feature future Hall of Famer Travis Kelce, McBride appears poised to carry the torch as the next great tight end.
