True to the theme of this ever unpredictable yet relentlessly dramatic NFL season, the final week of the schedule delivered once more.
Even with playoff teams resting star quarterbacks and other starters, and most games having minimal actual stakes, Week 18 still managed not to disappoint.
And it was only fitting that the final game of the regular season be yet another candidate for the bloated “Best Games of the Year” list.
Capping Week 18 in the Sunday night spotlight, with the AFC North and the final playoff spot on the line, the Baltimore Ravens and Pittsburgh Steelers reeled off another instant-classic in what has consistently been one of the league’s best rivalries for more than two decades.
Even though a few days have passed, it still bears a cursory retelling because it was an absolutely perfect encapsulation of this entire NFL season, which was at all times impossible to pin down and project and remains so heading into the playoffs this week.
For three quarters Sunday night, the Ravens and Steelers combined for 23 points. In the fourth quarter, they ripped off four touchdowns with nearly (oh, so nearly) that same point total in the final 4 minutes alone. Of course.
Lamar Jackson — after missing most of the last two games and following a quiet first three quarters (more to the point, a thoroughly underwhelming season overall) — channeled his two-time MVP form with the Ravens’ season on the line, dropping one dramatic dime after another down the stretch.
Like this 50-yard touchdown pass to Zay Flowers on third-and-4 midway through the fourth quarter, escaping a seemingly sure sack and eschewing a much easier first down with his legs to instead go big and break Baltimore out of its offensive slumber.
With that strike, the Ravens took a 17-13 lead that in the moment felt as if it might just stand given all empirical evidence from the first three and a half quarters.
That’s where we get back to the theme of this NFL season, though — never assume or trust the narrative.
Suddenly, another typical Ravens-Steelers defensive slugfest that could be straight out of 1940 — Jackson had five completed passes through three quarters! — became a dueling offensive highlight reel.
On the other side, Aaron Rodgers turned back the clock to his own past MVP form (maybe for the last time?)
On third-and-8, he uncorked a classic Rodgers rope down the seam to tight end Pat Freiermuth for 31 yards to the Baltimore 5-yard line to set up a Steelers touchdown and 20-17 lead with 3:49 to play.
So, Jackson just went and did it again, seizing on a defensive breakdown to hit a wide-open Flowers for a 64-yard touchdown this time, retaking the lead at 24-20 with 2:20 to play.
That was plenty of time for the suddenly spry Steelers offense, though.
Rodgers would make the Ravens pay for their own defensive miscue as cornerback Chidobe Awuzie slipped in coverage with no help behind him, leaving Calvin Austin III wide open for a 26-yard touchdown. But a blocked extra point left Pittsburgh vulnerable with a 26-24 lead and 55 seconds remaining.
And we all know what happened from there.
Jackson threw another clutch pass that seemed sure to save the Ravens’ season, finding leaping tight end Isaiah Likely for a 26-yard completion on fourth-and-7 to get to the Steelers’ 24 and position for the game-winning field goal.
Only to have kicker Tyler Loop push it wide right from 44 yards, ending both the Ravens’ season and the John Harbaugh Era in Baltimore after 18 years, 180 wins and a Super Bowl title.
(One can certainly question the decision to take a knee and 2-yard loss with 14 seconds left and a timeout to center the ball for that kick rather than trying to get 5-10 yards closer for a rookie kicker facing the biggest moment of his young career.)
What a finish to a thoroughly captivating NFL regular season, but before we turn the focus to the start of the playoffs, let’s put Week 18 in full perspective with our weekly look at the NFL’s Winners and Losers.
NFL Week 18 Winners
Seahawks Send Statement
For many, there has seemingly been a degree of mistrust with the Seahawks all season. Are they truly this good?
Be it the Sam Darnold stigma (which is becoming less valid with each big win), or the controversial 2-point conversion that powered Seattle’s pivotal overtime win over the Rams a couple weeks ago, or having favorable timing throughout the schedule — getting the Texans, Jaguars and even the Vikings before they took off, playing Minnesota in overmatched undrafted rookie QB Max Brosmer’s first career start, playing the Colts after they peaked and in 44-year-old Philip Rivers’ first NFL game in five years, etc.
But no, Seattle is actually just this good.
The Seahawks closed the regular season with seven straight wins and victories in 11 of their final 12 games, with the lone blemish a narrow 21-19 loss on the road to a very good Rams team.
They also closed the season playing the best defense of any team in the league the final two weeks against two fellow playoff teams, holding Carolina to a season-low 139 yards in a 27-10 road win and then stifling San Francisco — the hottest offense in the league — also to a season-low 173 yards in a 13-3 road win.
Seattle is the betting favorite to win the Super Bowl (+400 odds, per BetMGM), and while we’ll reiterate it’s perilous to trust any trends this NFL season, it’s also hard to pick against the Seahawks at this point.
Second-year coach Mike Macdonald, a true Harbaugh(s) disciple having served as Jim Harbaugh’s defensive coordinator at Michigan and John Harbaugh’s DC in Baltimore, is the real deal with 24 wins and counting in his last two seasons.
His defense, which passed Houston for the NFL lead in fewest points allowed (17.2 per game), is loaded with still-underrated talent like linebackers Ernest Jones IV (126 tackles, 5 interceptions, 4 tackles for loss and a defensive touchdown) and Drake Thomas (96 tackles, 10 TFLs, 3.5 sacks, 8 passes defensed, 1 INT), star rookie safety Nick Emmanwori (81 tackles, 9 TFL, 2.5 sacks, 11 PD, 1 INT), cornerback Devon Witherspoon (72 tackles, 4 sacks, 7 PBUs, 1 INT) and ball-hawking safety Coby Bryant (66 tackles, 4 INTs and 7 PD).
Darnold may still have something to prove in the playoffs after an early flame-out in Minnesota last year, but he’s won 28 regular-season games the last two years.
Jaxon Smith-Njigba is the NFL’s leading receiver with 1,793 yards (on 119 catches with 10 TDs), and the running back tandem of Kenneth Walker III (1,027 rushing yards, 5 TDs) and Zach Charbonnet (730-12) is one of the best in the league.
And regardless of when they played who, the reality is the Seahawks have wins over six playoff teams (Pittsburgh, Jacksonville, Houston, Los Angeles Rams, Carolina and San Francisco).
Myles Garrett Makes History
Myles Garrett built up the drama in his pursuit of the NFL sack record, coming up empty in Week 17 vs. the Steelers and through more than three and a half quarters in Week 18 vs. the Bengals.
But with just over 5 minutes remaining, Garrett brought Joe Burrow down to break the record with his 23rd sack of the season — surpassing the previous mark of 22.5 shared by Michael Strahan (in a 16-game season in 2001) and T.J. Watt (2021).
Garrett’s record-setting performance was a bright spot in yet another bleak season overall for the Browns.
The Rich Get Richer
One of the fun sublots of the final week of the regular season each year is tracking what players are chasing lucrative stat-based incentives.
Several players in particular truly cashed in last weekend.
Panthers RB Rico Dowdle needed 7 scrimmage yards to reach 1,350 for the season and trigger a $1 million bonus. He ended up with 7 carries for 10 yards and 2 receptions for 20 yards, but it didn’t come without drama!
Chargers WR Keenan Allen, meanwhile, came into Sunday needing 6 catches for 80 and a $750,000 bonus and 9 yards for 750 and another $250,000. Playing with backup QB Trey Lance, Allen notched 7 catches on 13 targets for 36 yards to hit on both and collect a cool $1 million.
Darnold could have earned up to an extra $2 million total if he reached the bar on passing touchdowns (28), passing yards (4,000), completion percentage (67.5%) and passer rating (100). He got half of them Saturday, finishing the regular season with 4,048 passing yards and a 67.7% completion rate after completing 20 of 26 passes for 198 yards, but he fell short on TDs (25) and passer rating (99.1).
And Patriots WR Stefon Diggs made his $1 million in bonuses over the final two weeks, cashing a $500,000 incentive for hitting 80 catches for the season in Week 17 and adding $500,000 more in Week 18 by getting over 1,000 yards. He finished with 85 catches for 1,013 yards.
But the big winner apparently was 49ers WR Jauan Jennings …
Riley Leonard
Colts backup QB Riley Leonard didn’t earn an immediate bonus for his performance in Week 18, but it likely made him plenty of money down the line as he showed himself to be an effective NFL quarterback in his first career start.
The rookie sixth-round pick out of Notre Dame (and Duke before that) completed 21 of 34 passes for 270 yards, 2 TDs and an INT plus a rushing TD vs. Houston’s vaunted defense in a competitive 38-30 loss.
Maybe the Colts would have been better off riding with Leonard over Old Man Rivers after all.
NFL Coach of the Year Race
This has been one of the most loaded NFL Coach of the Year races in recent memory.
Per BetMGM, Patriots coach Mike Vrabel is the overwhelming betting favorite to win at -285 odds, followed by Macdonald in Seattle (+300) and the Bears’ Ben Johnson and Jaguars’ Liam Coen at +1800 each.
Vrabel is certainly a deserving choice, taking over a Patriots franchise coming off back-to-back 4-win seasons and turning in a 14-3 AFC East title in his first year.
But in many other years, the other three on that list would have been the obvious choice.
We hit on Macdonald’s impact in leading Seattle to 14-3, the NFC’s No. 1 seed and a new era of defensive dominance for the Seahawks.
Johnson took over a Bears team that hadn’t had a winning season since 2018 and went 5-12 last year and won 11 games and the NFC North while helping former No. 1 overall draft pick Caleb Williams have a breakout second season.
And Coen built a legit Super Bowl contender in Jacksonville in Year 1, going 13-4 with an AFC South title and eight straight wins to close out the regular season, after the Jaguars went 4-13 last year. Just as notable, he turned around QB Trevor Lawrence’s career, as the former No. 1 overall pick played his best football over the final six games with 15 TD passes and just 1 INT, 266.7 passing yards per game and 4 rushing TDs in that span. Lawrence had 11 INTs over the first 11 games to rank among the NFL leaders before his transformation.
Honestly, give it to any of them and it would be hard to argue against it. Or call it a four-way tie.
Minnesota Momentum (Into The Offseason), MVP, Mile-high Milestone and Mike Tomlin
Alliterative speed round time!
The Minnesota Vikings really turned around a wayward season with five straight wins — including 16-3 over the depleted Packers on Sunday — to finish 9-8.
Young QB J.J. McCarthy (1,632 passing yards, 11 TDs and 12 INTs, plus 4 rushing TDs) still has everything to prove as the Vikings largely won in spite of their QB play down the stretch, but McCarthy was at least serviceable down the stretch after a brutal start to his first season as a starter. He had 5 passing TDs and just 2 INTs along with 2 rushing TD (albeit with limited passing yardage) in his final four games.
The Vikings can at least spin that momentum into reason for optimism entering the offseason.
…
The MVP race went back and forth to the wire. After Rams QB Matthew Stafford led for most of the second half of the season, Patriots QB Drake Maye leaped ahead of him after Week 17, only for Stafford to take back over as the betting favorite after Week 18.
Per BetMGM, Stafford is a -140 favorite to win the first MVP award of his Hall of Fame-caliber career while Maye is now at +115 odds.
Stafford shook off his season-worst 3-INTs in Week 17 with 259 yards, 4 TDs and 0 picks in a 37-20 win over the Cardinals to push his season totals to 4,707 passing yards, 46 TDs and 8 INTs for the 12-5 Rams. He finished as the league leader in passing yards and TDs.
Maye, who was 14 of 18 for 191 yards and a TD in a blowout of the Dolphins, ended up at 4,394 passing yards, 31 TDs and 8 INTs with 450 rushing yards and 4 TDs for the 14-3 Patriots. He led all qualifying QBs with a 72% completion rate.
…
With a 19-3 win over a Chargers team resting starting QB Justin Herbert and others, the Denver Broncos secured the AFC’s No. 1 seed and lone bye for the first round of the playoffs.
It is the first time Denver earned the No. 1 seed since 2015.
…
With that dramatic missed field goal by the Ravens, coach Mike Tomlin got the Steelers into the playoffs for the third straight season, fifth time in six years and 13th time in 19 seasons. It’s also marked his third straight 10-7 regular-season finish and 12th season with double-digit wins (thanks to the expanded 17-game schedule the last four years).
Tomlin, of course, also extended his streak of 19 straight seasons without a losing record.
The reality remains, though, his Steelers haven’t won a playoff game since 2016 and have lost six in a row.
But all of that aside, he makes the winners of the week just for this soundbite alone.
NFL Week 18 Losers
Even When The Bucs Win, They Lose
The most complicated outcome of Week 18 was settling the NFC South race and playoff berth.
The Panthers entered the weekend with a one-game lead on the Buccaneers (and Falcons, who had nonetheless already been officially eliminated), while playing in Tampa Bay with the division title at stake.
And yet the only one of those three teams that didn’t win last weekend is the one now going to the playoffs.
The Bucs held on for a 16-14 win over the Panthers on Saturday, but to earn the division title and playoff berth they then needed the Falcons to lose to the Saints. Otherwise, there would be a three-team tie atop the standings at 8-9, and the tiebreaker (head-to-head-to-head record among the three tied teams) would go to the Panthers.
Sure enough, Atlanta beat New Orleans, 19-17, on Sunday to swing the division to the Panthers.
After losing four straight and seven of their previous eight games, the Bucs finally win one — and still end up losing in the end.
Ravens’ Rash Reaction
Would John Harbaugh still be coaching the Ravens in 2026 if his rookie kicker made a routine field goal to beat the Steelers on Sunday night? That’s wild to consider.
Maybe not. Maybe anything short of a deep playoff run would end in the same outcome — the Ravens’ ownership/leadership feeling the Harbaugh Era had run its course after 18 years.
But the move triggered strong reactions around the league, including a rare pointed criticism from respected former Super Bowl-winning coach Tony Dungy.
Meanwhile, ESPN’s Adam Schefter emphatically rebuked a report from fellow NFL reporter Ian Rapoport that Harbaugh had lost part of the Ravens locker room.
There is also the strong possibility that Harbaugh immediately moves into another head coach position, where he’d have the chance to follow the Andy Reid script of unceremoniously being let go after an immensely successful tenure (Reid never won a Super Bowl in Philadelphia, but reached one along with five NFC championship games) and promptly launching a successful second chapter elsewhere.
Green Bay Packs It In
It’s hard to evaluate the Packers’ potential in the playoffs as they finished with four straight losses to drop to 9-7-1, but two and a half of those games were without starting QB Jordan Love (concussion/precaution) and the listless 16-3 loss to the Vikings last weekend was with third-string QB Clayton Tune and other starters.
But are the Packers going to be able to suddenly flip a switch with Love back in the lineup on the road against the Bears this week in the playoffs?
Poor Pollard
Not all players cashed in on lucrative potential incentives in Week 18, and the toughest break on the other end of things was probably Titans running back Tony Pollard.
Pollard needed 66 rushing yards Sunday vs. the Jaguars to reach 1,100 and cash a $250,000 bonus and 2 TDs for another $200,000.
After averaging 113 rushing yards over the previous four games, Pollard has held to 48 yards (and 0 TDs) on 14 carries to miss both bonuses.
Perhaps an even tougher outcome, though, befell the Dolphins’ Bradley Chubb, who was set to collect $5.2 million in incentives he hit individually but which were contingent on Miami’s defense finishing top 20 in the NFL for the season. The Dolphins finished 22nd in total defense.
Elsewhere, veteran Cardinals defensive end Calais Campbell needed 1 sack for a $500,000 bonus but came up short.
Jonathan Gannon As An NFL HC
Six NFL head coaches were fired this week, but the one most unlikely to ever get another shot at a head coaching job in the league is fired Cardinals coach Jonathan Gannon.
Gannon went 4-13, 8-9 and 3-14 in three seasons in Arizona for a 15-36 record, lost his final nine games (and 14 of his final 15) and had a defense that allowed 28.7 points per game (fourth-worst in the NFL) despite that side of the ball being his specialty (as he was the Eagles’ defensive coordinator for two years).
Even in his “best” season, in 2024, the Cardinals fell off a cliff after a strong start, losing five of their final seven games.
There is also this …
Falcons’ ‘What If?’
Fired Falcons head coach Raheem Morris and general manager Terry Fontenot might still have jobs had the team never drafted QB Michael Penix Jr. with the No. 8 overall pick in 2024 — not long after giving veteran QB Kirk Cousins a four-year $180-million contract.
Penix never fully settled in while taking over the starting role late last season and the first part of this season before a season-ending knee injury. He was 4-8 as a starter overall including 3-6 to start this season.
Cousins stepped back in after Penix’s injury and led Atlanta to a 5-3 mark with four straight wins to close the season — as the Falcons finished tied for the NFC South division lead but third in the tiebreaker with the Panthers and Bucs.
Fresh Concern for 49ers
A week ago, San Francisco was rolling with six straight wins and looking like one of the best offensives in the entire NFL.
Then came that halting 13-3 loss to the Seahawks that knocked the Niners from potentially earning the NFC’s No. 1 seed all the way to the 6 seed and a road game against the reigning Super Bowl champion Eagles to start the playoffs on Sunday.
The good news is veteran left tackle Trent Williams is trending positively after missing that Seahawks game with a hamstring injury.
And while there’s no disputing Kyle Shanahan is one of the best coaches in the NFL, that loss last week dredged up a really jarring stat.
Worst Trade Rarely Referenced
With QB Trey Lance getting the start for the Chargers on Sunday as Justin Herbert rested, it was a fresh reminder of one of the worst NFL trades in recent memory — and one that rarely gets the same ridicules as the Browns disastrous move for Deshaun Watson.
In the 2021 draft, the 49ers traded three first-round picks (2021, 2022 and 2023) and a 2022 third-round pick just to move up from No. 12 to No. 3 and draft Lance out of North Dakota State, where he had started one full season in college at the FCS level and then one game the following year in the Covid-altered 2020 season that was moved to the spring for the Bison while Lance departed for the draft.
Lance appeared in just eight games for the 49ers and was traded after two years to the Cowboys for a fourth-round pick.
Only because San Francisco struck gold with QB Brock Purdy, the final pick of the 2022 draft, is the Lance trade not brought up more regarding the 49ers.
Overall, in 16 games with three teams, Lance has completed 54 percent of his passes for 1,289 yards, 5 TDs and 5 INTs and rushed for 361 yards and a TD.
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