We are now in the final week of the 2025 NFL Regular season. There are still divison title and playoff seeding up for grabs, as well as high draft picks. But who would make the postseason?
Let’s look back at Week 18 of the 2025 NFL regular season
Pittsburgh wins the North
The AFC North was up for grabs in the final game of the regular season. The Pittsburgh Steelers have been division leaders for the majority of the season, but a resurgent Baltimore Ravens, aided by the return of Lamar Jackson, have played themselves into contention. A win for Pittsburgh would be enough for Aaron Rodgers to make his return to the playoffs. Would he be able to do this?
The Ravens had the first possession of the game and could take the lead from it. Starting from their 15-yard line, Jackson and company made their way down to the Steelers’ 38-yard line. Here, he found Devontez Walker for the touchdown pass to strike the first blow in the game. A blow that the Steelers were unable to immediately respond to.
The Ravens extended their lead a few drives later, thanks to a 40-yard field goal from Tyler Loop. The Steelers responded with points. However, their drive stalled at the Ravens’ 39-yard line, allowing Chris Boswell to kick a 57-yard field goal.
Pittsburgh looked like it was going to challenge the endzone on the final play of the half. With two seconds left on the clock, the team was down at the Ravens’ one-yard line. However, Kenneth Gainwell would lose yards on his rushing attempt, meaning that at halftime, the Ravens had a 10-3 lead over the Steelers.
The Steelers had the first possession of the second half and would do what they were unable to do at the end of the first half. Rodgers and company again got themselves down to the Ravens’ one-yard line. Here, Connor Heyward would find the endzone for the rushing touchdown to level the scores.
Things got even better for Pittsburgh on the next drive, where they intercepted Jackson’s pass deep in his own territory. This mistake from the Ravens quarterback would prove costly, as Boswell would find the uprights from 25 yards out a few plays later to give the Steelers the lead going into the fourth quarter.
Baltimore was able to get itself back into the lead in an impressive way on their first drive of the fourth quarter. Jackson found Zay Flowers for a 50-yard touchdown pass to give them a four-point lead. But, this lead did not last long, as Gainwell found the endzone for a two-yard rushing touchdown on the next drive to return the lead to the Steelers.
The back-and-forth continued on the next drive, where Jackson found Flowers for another long touchdown pass, this one for 64 yards. But, any gains from this play were quickly taken away when Rodgers found Calvin Austin for a 26-yard touchdown pass to give the Steelers a two-point lead with under a minute to play.
All the Ravens needed to do was to get the ball into field goal territory, setting up Loop with an opportunity to win the game and the division. The Baltimore offense quickly made its way to the Steelers’ 26-yard line, setting up Loop with a game/division-winning 44-yard field goal attempt. His kick went wide.
The Pittsburgh Steelers had defeated the Baltimore Ravens 26-24 to win the AFC North.
With this win, the Steelers continue both their playoff streak (three years) and their non-losing season streak (22 years). The end of the regular season with a 10-7 record, and will be the fourth seed in the playoffs. Can they get to the Super Bowl? We will find out in the following weeks. As for Baltimore, they fall at the final hurdle and end the season with an 8-9 record.
A few days later, Ravens coach John Harbaugh was fired.
The Number One Seeded Seattle
The NFC West has been a tightly fought battle all season long. This week, the title was on the line as the Seattle Seahawks faced the San Francisco 49ers. For Seattle, all they needed to do was win the game, and both the division and the number one seed in the NFC would be theirs. A 49ers win would complicate things a bit more. Who would win?
The Seahawks had a good chance of opening the scoring on the first drive of the game. The Sam Darnold-led offense made its way down to the 49ers’ four-yard line, where they were faced with a fourth-down attempt. Darnold’s pass to Cooper Kupp was incomplete, ending any hopes of scoring on that drive.
But the Seahawks would be more successful on their next drive, with Zach Charbonnet finding the endzone from 27 yards out. A few drives later, and the lead would be extended thanks to a 45-yard field goal from Jason Myers.
The 49ers’ offense would finally wake up on the next drive. Brock Purdy would lead his offense down to the Seahawks’ 30-yard line, where this drive stalled. This set up kicker Eddie Pineiro with a 48-yard field goal attempt. This was successful, as at halftime the Seahawks had a 10-3 lead over the 49ers.
For most of the second half, defense was the story. In the third quarter, neither team was able to make a challenge for the endzone. The Seahawks would then score a field goal from 31 yards out, and then intercept Purdy on his offense’s only real chance to score in the half.
This meant after a close, but underwhelming game, the Seattle Seahawks defeated the San Francisco 49ers 13-3.
This win gives the Seahawks the NFC West title and the NFC’s number one seed. This gives them a bye to the second round of the playoffs and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. They end the regular season with a 14-3 record. As for San Francisco, they fall to 12-5 on the season and will begin preparing for their wildcard game next week.
The NFC South Story
The final division deciding game from this week came from the NFC South. This has been the division many thought the Tampa Bay Buccaneers would easily win. Coming into week 18, they would need to beat the Carolina Panthers and hope the Atlanta Falcons lose to the New Orleans Saints to get them the title. All Carolina needed was to win, and the comeback would be complete. What happened in this game?
The Buccaneers had the first drive of the game and took the lead on it. Starting from their 26-yard line, Baker Mayfield led his offense down to the Panthers’ 18-yard line. Here, he would find Cade Otton for the touchdown pass to take the early advantage. The lead would be extended on their next drive, thanks to a 29-yard field goal from Chase McLaughlin.
However, Tampa Bay would make a mistake on their next drive, when Mayfield’s pass was intercepted by the Panthers defense deep in their own redzone. The shortened field would help Carolina, and a few plays later, Bryce Young would find Tommy Temble for an eight-yard touchdown pass.
The Panthers would be the next to make a mistake when Young threw an interception. This mistake would cost the Panthers points, as McLaughlin would find the uprights from 36 yards out to increase the lead for Tampa Bay.
This meant that at halftime, the Buccaneers led the Panthers 13-7.
Carolina had the first drive of the second half and had a very good opportunity to get themselves back into the game. Young and company got themselves down to the Buccs’ 36-yard line before stalling, setting up a 54-yard field goal attempt for kicker Ryan Fitzgerald. Unfortunately, this kick was short.
One kicker who was not struggling with field goals was McLaughlin, and he made another to begin the fourth quarter, making it a two-possession game. The Panthers would need to score something on their next drive to give themselves a chance of winning the match. Unfortunately, they fumbled the ball (literally), handing possession back to Tampa Bay, which got the ball into field-goal range.
A successful kick from McLaughlin would have sealed the win, but the kick was blocked by the Panthers. This gave them another chance to get themselves back into the game, and this time they took it. On the Buccaneers’ eight-yard line, Young found Jalen Coker for the touchdown pass. This made it a two-point game, and a punt on Tampa’s next drive gave Carolina one chance to get into field-goal range.
Unfortunately, they were too far back to realistically get into field goal territory, and a series of lateral plays went nowhere. This meant that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers had defeated the Carolina Panthers 16-14.
The win means that Tampa Bay was still in playoff contention going into the remaining games and would need results to go their way to prevent Carolina from winning the division and the playoff spot. Both teams end the regular season with an 8-9 record, meaning a team with a losing record would make the playoffs, but which one?
Carolina needed an Atlanta Falcons win, while Tampa needed New Orleans to defeat their division rivals. This game saw another good performance from rookie QB Tyler Shough, but it would not be enough. Atlanta defeated New Orleans 19-17, meaning that Carolina makes the playoffs.
What Happened in the Other Games?
We had a Battle of Ohio to finish the season as the Cleveland Browns faced the Cincinnati Bengals. Myles Garrett broke the single-season sack record in this game, which the Browns won 20-18. Then, Brown coach Kevin Stefanski was fired (a pattern we are going to see a lot below)
The Green Bay Packers have already secured a playoff spot, and play most of their backups against the Minnesota Vikings. Vikings QB J.J. McCarthy left the second half with an injury, raising more questions about his future, as the Vikings recorded a 16-3 win to give them a 9-8 record. This does mean that if Green Bay had not tied with the Dallas Cowboys earlier in the season, they would not made the playoffs.
The Jacksonville Jaguars needed to beat the Tennessee Titans to win the AFC South. They easily did. Trevor Lawrence threw for 255 yards and three touchdowns in their 41-7 win over the Titans.
With the division title out of reach, the Houston Texans were playing for seeding in their game with the Indianapolis Colts, who had Riley Leonard in at QB. The former Notre Dame/Duke QB had a good showing, recording 270 yards and two touchdowns. But a late touchdown from the Texans gave them a 38-30 win over the Colts, clinching the five seed in the playoffs.
The Buffalo Bills played what could be their last game at Highmark Stadium against the New York Jets. The Jets’ terrible season finally came to an end with a 35-8 defeat in a game that Josh Allen did not play. History was made in this game, as the Jets did not intercept the ball, meaning that they became the first team in NFL history to have a season where the defense recorded 0 interceptions.
The Detroit Lions’ frustrating season came to an end this week against the Chicago Bears. A last-second field goal from Jake Bates gave them a 19-16 win over the division champions.
The Denver Broncos met the Los Angeles Chargers, knowing that a win would clinch the number one seed in the AFC. A decent performance from Denver gave them a 19-3 win and the number one seed. But, I don’t think that they have been playing like the best team in the AFC this season.
A team that I do think deserved the number one seed in the AFC is the New England Patriots. To end the season, they faced the Miami Dolphins. This was a standard 38-10 win for the Pats, giving them good momentum for the postseason.
The Las Vegas Raiders came into the game with the Kansas City Chiefs (a team who have struggled this year) with the number one pick of the draft clinched. It is good that they did clinch it before, as a late field goal from Daniel Carlson gave the Raiders a 14-12 win over the Chiefs. After the game, the Raiders’ coach, Pete Carroll, was fired.
The Los Angeles Rams played their starters in their game against the Arizona Cardinals. Matthew Stafford threw for four touchdowns in their meaningless 37-20 win.
The Philadelphia Eagles had a chance of getting the number two seed in the NFC coming into their game with the Washington Commanders. Playing their backups, the Eagles collapsed in the fourth quarter, allowing two Commanders touchdowns to give Washington a 24-17 win over the Eagles. This denies Philly the number two seed.
And finally, the New York Giants faced the Dallas Cowboys, where a defeat would give the Giants a top-three draft pick. Nobody told Jaxson Dart that. He threw for 230 yards and two touchdowns in the Giants’ 34-17 win over the Cowboys.
The Playoff Picture
After 18 weeks, we now have the playoff bracket. The number one seed in each conference is the Denver Broncos (AFC) and the Seattle Seahawks (NFC). They will have a bye next week, while the other teams will be playing the Wildcard round, where the following games will be played:
AFC:
Buffalo Bills @ Jacksonville Jaguars
Los Angeles Chargers @ New England Patriots
Houston Texans @ Pittsburgh Steelers
NFC:
Los Angeles Rams @ Carolina Panthers
Green Bay Packers @ Chicago Bears
San Francisco 49ers @ Philadelphia Eagles