NFL Week 17 games: What to watch for
The 2020 NFL regular season finishes up on Sunday night, and there are ample storylines throughout the final day of the campaign.
By the end of Sunday, we’ll be down to 14 teams vying for the Super Bowl.
There’s little intriguing with the 2021 NFL Draft order, considering the Jacksonville Jaguars and New York Jets have locked up the top two spots, respectively. After that, we’ll see how things shake, but Trevor Lawrence and Justin Fields already have their likely destinations.
However, there’s tons to look at for the AFC and NFC playoff pictures.
On the NFC side, the Green Bay Packers visit the Chicago Bears in the biggest matchup of the day. If the Packers win, they earn the No. 1 seed and have home-field advantage through to the Super Bowl. If Green Bay were to do so and then play in the NFC title game, it would be the first time Aaron Rodgers hasn’t had to win on the road to reach Super Sunday.
As for the Bears, it couldn’t be more simple. If they win, they’re in. If they lose, they’re out unless the Los Angeles Rams beat the Arizona Cardinals. In that case, they would be the No. 7 seed, with the Rams either the No. 5 or 6 seed, depending on the result between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Atlanta Falcons.
This brings us to the Rams and Cardinals, who are also playing at 4:25 p.m. ET for the right to play a 17th game. Arizona is currently on the outside of the playoff picture, but draws well by getting John Wolford under center instead of Jared Goff. Cooper Kupp is also out of the game, while defensive end Michael Brockers is on the COVID-19/reserve list.
In short, everything has lined up for the Cardinals to win and reach the playoffs for the first time in the Kliff Kingsbury era.
Over in the AFC, all the important games go off in the early window, with the exception of the Indianapolis Colts and Tennessee Titans playing the Jaguars and Houston Texans, respectively.
If the Titans win, they are the No. 4 seed as the AFC South champ. If they lose and Colts win, Indianapolis wins the crown. However, the Colts need help right now to simply make the postseason. They must beat Jacksonville and then have either the Baltimore Ravens, Miami Dolphins or Cleveland Browns lose to earn a wild card berth. If those three teams all win, they reach the postseason.
