{"id":388433,"date":"2026-01-03T06:29:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-03T06:29:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/388433\/"},"modified":"2026-01-03T06:29:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-03T06:29:07","slug":"what-is-at-stake-in-week-18-games-afc-and-nfc-clinching-scenarios-playoff-bracket-schedule","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/388433\/","title":{"rendered":"What is at stake in Week 18 games, AFC and NFC clinching scenarios, playoff bracket, schedule"},"content":{"rendered":"

San Francisco will try to secure a home-field playoff edge into the Super Bowl as two top seeds and two playoff berths will be decided on the final weekend of the NFL campaign.<\/p>\n

Watch an average 6 games per week and every game of the NFL Postseason, LIVE with ESPN on Kayo Sports | New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1.<\/a><\/p>\n

Since clubs began pre-season camps last July, their goal has been to capture a playoff spot and a chance to play in next month\u2019s NFL championship spectacle at the 49ers\u2019 home venue, Levi\u2019s Stadium in Santa Clara, California.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

San Francisco (12-4) plays host to Seattle (13-3) on Sunday with the winner capturing the NFC top seed, a first-round playoff bye and home-field advantage throughout the post-season.<\/p>\n

Beating the Seahawks means the 49ers would be only two home playoff triumphs from playing in the Super Bowl on their home field.<\/p>\n

It is an incredible turnaround for one of the most injury-riddled teams in the NFL this season.<\/p>\n

On offence, quarterback Brock Purdy missed a large chunk of the season while top receiving weapons George Kittle and Ricky Pearsall have missed time. There were hopes Brandon Aiyuk may return mid-season, but instead he has been sidelined all year and looks to have played his last game for the 49ers.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, on defence the 49ers have been down both star linebacker Fred Warner and defensive end Nick Bosa.<\/p>\n

\u201cBack when Fred got hurt, if you told anybody we\u2019d be 12-4 and be battling Week 18 for that one seed, you\u2019re absolutely crazy,\u201d fullback Kyle Juszczyk said earlier in the week. <\/p>\n

\u201cNobody would\u2019ve believed you. So it\u2019s been a special season already, and one I definitely don\u2019t take for granted. But we\u2019re not done. I have all the confidence in the world that we can get this thing done.\u201d<\/p>\n

Allen misses chance to ice Eagles | 03:13<\/p>\n

The AFC playoff top seed will be determined on Monday with Denver (13-3) taking the spot with a victory over the Los Angeles Chargers (11-5).<\/p>\n

Should the Broncos lose, the door is open for the New England Patriots, who would then have to beat Miami (7-9) to swipe the top seed.<\/p>\n

If Denver and New England are both beaten, the Jacksonville Jaguars would capture the top seed with a victory over Tennessee (3-13).<\/p>\n

The last playoff berth in each conference is up for grabs also with the Baltimore Ravens (8-8) at Pittsburgh (9-7) and the winner seizing the final AFC playoff berth and the AFC North division title for a fourth seeding and first-round home game.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s slightly more complicated in the NFC, where Carolina (8-8) will visit Tampa Bay (7-9) on Sunday in the pivotal contest to decide the NFC South crown and a playoff spot.<\/p>\n

Carolina clinches the playoff berth with a victory while the Buccaneers will not necessarily claim the post-season spot with a triumph.<\/p>\n

Tampa Bay would also need Atlanta (7-9) to lose or draw at home against New Orleans (6-10) on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Wins by Tampa Bay and Atlanta would create a three-team logjam at 8-9 that would be decided by a head-to-head results tie-breaker — which would send Carolina into the playoffs even with a defeat.<\/p>\n

Seattle, San Francisco, Chicago, the Los Angeles Rams, reigning champion Philadelphia and Green Bay have taken NFC playoff spots.<\/p>\n

AFC post-season qualifiers include New England, Buffalo, Denver, Jacksonville, Houston and the Chargers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"San Francisco will try to secure a home-field playoff edge into the Super Bowl as two top seeds…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":388434,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[559],"tags":[64,63,593,85],"class_list":{"0":"post-388433","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-nfl","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388433","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=388433"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/388433\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/388434"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=388433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=388433"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=388433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}