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Three different NFL Week 17 games set up two extremely important matchups for the league-wide regular season finale next week.
The NFC South and AFC North divisions will be decided by who wins, as the Carolina Panthers, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Pittsburgh Steelers all lost on Sunday.
The top two teams, the Panthers and Bucs, are division rivals and both knew what was at stake when they began their contests against the Seattle Seahawks and Miami Dolphins, respectively.
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Aaron Rodgers of the Pittsburgh Steelers reacts during the second quarter of the game against the Cleveland Browns at Huntington Bank Field on December 28, 2025 in Cleveland, Ohio. (Nick Cammett/Getty Images)
For the Panthers, a home win against the Seahawks meant winning the NFC South. But Seattle had already clinched its playoff spot and owned first place in the NFC with a 12-3 record entering the game.
Bryce Young and company could do nothing against a suffocating Seattle defense, which has been one of the best units in the league all season. Young scored a meaningless touchdown in the fourth quarter, but the Seahawks took the 27-10 road win to help their own No. 1 seed status.
Meanwhile, the Bucs knew they would definitely like Carolina to lose to the Seahawks, but they had to take care of the Dolphins to have a better chance of winning the division.
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Instead, Baker Mayfield once again struggled to be consistent on offense, throwing two interceptions and two touchdowns in a 20-17 loss to Quinn Ewers and the Dolphins. Miami’s seventh-round pick was 14 of 22 for 172 yards with two touchdown passes in the victory that moved the Dolphins to 7-9, although their playoff hopes were already over.
Looking at the NFC South standings, the Bucs are 7-9 after losing their fourth straight game, while the Panthers are 8-8.
So how would the Buccaneers win the division if they both have the same record at the end of Week 18 (8-9)? When you look at the NFL tiebreaker rules, it starts with a head-to-head matchup. The Panthers took their first meeting, a 23-20 victory, so it would be split if Tampa Bay wins in Week 18.
So the tiebreaker would be the division record, but a Buccaneers win would mean the same division record for both them and the Panthers (3-3). Next on the list is the record in common games, that is, those competitions in which they have faced the same opponent. The Buccaneers beat the Panthers in that category considering their win over the Arizona Cardinals in Week 13, while the Panthers lost in Week 2 to the same Arizona team.
Bryce Young of the Carolina Panthers is seen before playing against the Seattle Seahawks at Bank of America Stadium on December 28, 2025 in Charlotte, North Carolina. (Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)
Moving on to the AFC North, Aaron Rodgers and the Steelers would have taken the division title with a bow if they could have taken care of business against the Cleveland Browns on the road. But the Browns defense ultimately had other things on mind.
It all came down to the last play of the game, where Rodgers led his Steelers team down the field into the red zone in hopes that he could secure his first touchdown of the game and maybe go for two points to win 14-13.
But a controversial finish ensued on fourth-and-goal when Rodgers attempted to throw a pass to Márquez Valdés-Scantling in the end zone, and it appeared that Browns cornerback Denzel Ward committed pass interference as he hit him before making contact with the ball. However, no flags were thrown and the Browns celebrated at home, having perhaps ruined their rivals’ chances of winning the division.
The Steelers still control their own destiny, although the Baltimore Ravens now have a chance to do the same.
The Ravens started the year 1-5 in stunning fashion, and it looked like the playoffs weren’t in the cards. That’s all changed in recent weeks, and Derrick Henry’s best game of his career came at the perfect time Saturday night in Green Bay, when he scored four touchdowns to help the Ravens beat the Packers and move to 8-8.
Everyone who supported the Ravens was watching closely to see if the Browns could pull off the upset at home, and that’s what they did.
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Whoever wins the Week 18 fight at Acrisure Stadium between the Ravens and Steelers will be crowned AFC North champions and earn a playoff berth.
Week 18 looked like an NFL slate without these types of matchups, with many teams already punching their way into the playoffs.
Now, two key rivalry games have everything on the line with division titles on the line.
