{"id":379655,"date":"2025-12-31T15:48:11","date_gmt":"2025-12-31T15:48:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/379655\/"},"modified":"2025-12-31T15:48:11","modified_gmt":"2025-12-31T15:48:11","slug":"nfl-playoff-scenarios-steelers-ravens-among-winner-take-all-games","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/379655\/","title":{"rendered":"NFL playoff scenarios: Steelers-Ravens among winner-take-all games"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dec. 31 (UPI) — A Baltimore Ravens and Pittsburgh Steelers clash will be among several Week 18 season-finale matchups with major NFL playoff implications.<\/p>\n

“It’s a meaningful thing,” Ravens coach John Harbaugh told reporters. “We’ve worked hard to get to this position. There are a lot of different paths in football and a lot of different paths in life. This is the path of the 2025 season.<\/p>\n

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“So here we are. Our goal is to make the most of it.”<\/p>\n

The Steelers (9-7) will host the Ravens (8-8) in the primetime meeting at 8:20 p.m. EST Sunday in Pittsburgh. The winner will claim the AFC North division crown and No. 4 seed in the AFC playoffs, while the loser misses the postseason. The Steelers also could claim the title and playoff berth with a tie.<\/p>\n

The rth matchup will air on NBC.<\/p>\n

\"Quarterback<\/p>\n

Quarterback Baker Mayfield and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers need a win over the Carolina Panthers and an Atlanta Falcons loss or tie to win the NFC South and clinch a playoff berth. File Photo by Jon Robichaud\/UPI<\/p>\n

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers (7-9) will host the Carolina Panthers (8-8) in the first NFL game of that week. The Panthers can win the NFC South title and No. 4 seed in the conference with a win or a tie. They also could lose and still reap the same rewards if the Atlanta Falcons (7-9) beat the New Orleans Saints (6-10).<\/p>\n

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“That would be cool,” Falcons running back Bijan Robinson told reporters Monday, when asked about potentially knocking the Buccaneers out of the playoffs.<\/p>\n

\"Coach<\/p>\n

Coach Sean Payton and the Denver Broncos will face the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday in Denver. File Photo by David Tulis\/UPI<\/p>\n

The Buccaneers can only claim the playoff berth if they beat the Panthers and the Saints beat the Falcons.<\/p>\n

The Buccaneers and Panthers will kick off at 4:30 p.m. Saturday in Tampa, Fla. The game will air on ESPN and ABC. The Falcons will host the Saints at 1 p.m. Sunday in Atlanta. That meeting will air on Fox.<\/p>\n

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\"Baltimore<\/p>\n

Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson’s status is still in question for a Week 18 matchup with the Pittsburgh Steelers. File Photo by David Tulis\/UPI<\/p>\n

Another key NFC matchup to watch will be a regular season finale between the Seattle Seahawks and San Francisco 49ers.<\/p>\n

The NFC West rivals will not only play for the division crown, but also the NFC’s top seed and a first-round bye. The 49ers (12-4) will host the Seahawks (13-3) at 8 p.m. Saturday in Santa Clara, Calif. That game will air on ESPN and ABC.<\/p>\n

\"Quarterback<\/p>\n

Quarterback Brock Purdy (13), coach Kyle Shanahan and the San Francisco 49ers will host the Seattle Seahawks on Saturday in Santa Clara, Calif. File Photo by John Angelillo\/UPI<\/p>\n

The loser will earn an NFC wild-card spot and be forced to play on the road, despite finishing the season with a 13-4 or 12-5 record. The Seahawks also could clinch the No. 1 seed with a tie.<\/p>\n

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“It’s very important,” 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey said. “We know what’s at stake right now. We’ve gotta have a great week of prep and get ready to go.”<\/p>\n

In the AFC, the Denver Broncos (13-3) can clinch the AFC’s No. 1 seed, which comes with a first-round bye and home field advantage, with a win over the Los Angeles Chargers (11-5). The Broncos and Chargers will kick off at 4:25 p.m. Sunday in Denver. The meeting will air on CBS.<\/p>\n

The Broncos also could clinch the top seed with a tie and New England Patriots loss or tie. A Patriots loss and Jacksonville Jaguars loss or tie also could give the Broncos the top seed.<\/p>\n

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“Just historically speaking, [the No. 1 seed] is extremely important, every study would show you,” Broncos coach Sean Payton said. “The first reason would be: you skip a game in which you are at risk to not play well. … You skip right to the next round. And to be able to play in front of our fans, with the crowd noise and atmosphere.”<\/p>\n

The Patriots (13-3) can steal the No. 1 seed with a win over the Miami Dolphins (7-9) and a Broncos loss or tie. They would also clinch the top spot with a tie and Broncos loss.<\/p>\n

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The Patriots will host the Dolphins at 4:25 p.m. Sunday in Foxborough, Mass. The AFC East matchup will air on Fox.<\/p>\n

The Jacksonville Jaguars are the only other team that could earn the AFC’s top seed, but they need to beat the Tennessee Titans (3-13) and hope for losses by both the Broncos and the Patriots.<\/p>\n

With a win or tie, the Jaguars would clinch the AFC South. They also could win the division title if the Houston Texans lose to the Indianapolis Colts.<\/p>\n

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The Jaguars will host the Titans at 1 p.m. Sunday in Jacksonville. The AFC South meeting will air on Fox.<\/p>\n

The Texans (11-5) need to beat the Colts (8-8) and the Titans to beat the Jaguars to win the AFC South. They will host the Colts at 1 p.m. Sunday in Houston. The meeting will air on CBS.<\/p>\n

Additional Week 18 NFL meetings will determine seeding for the postseason. The Buffalo Bills (11-5), who currently hold the No. 7 seed in the AFC, join the Broncos, Patriots, Jaguars, Texans and Chargers as teams who already clinched playoff spots.<\/p>\n

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The Chicago Bears (11-5), Philadelphia Eagles (11-5), Los Angeles Rams (11-5) and Green Bay Packers (9-6-1), along with the Seahawks and 49ers, clinched NFC playoff spots.<\/p>\n

The NFL playoffs run Jan. 10 to Feb. 8.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dec. 31 (UPI) — A Baltimore Ravens and Pittsburgh Steelers clash will be among several Week 18 season-finale…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":379656,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[436],"tags":[161907,1766,25574,1742,19206,29897,1748,49,48,1744,1735,18082,1743,1730,1737,1732,1725,2211,2210,1749,1720,1718,1734,123601,514,1747,949,161908,948,1739,82,13272,1733,1741],"class_list":["post-379655","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-afc-north-division","tag-atlanta-falcons","tag-baker-mayfield","tag-baltimore-ravens","tag-bijan-robinson","tag-brock-purdy","tag-buffalo-bills","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-carolina-panthers","tag-chicago-bears","tag-christian-mccaffrey","tag-denver-broncos","tag-green-bay-packers","tag-houston-texans","tag-indianapolis-colts","tag-jacksonville-jaguars","tag-lamar-jackson","tag-los-angeles-chargers","tag-los-angeles-rams","tag-miami-dolphins","tag-new-england-patriots","tag-new-orleans-saints","tag-nfc-south","tag-nfl","tag-philadelphia-eagles","tag-pittsburgh-steelers","tag-playoff-berth","tag-san-francisco-49ers","tag-seattle-seahawks","tag-sports","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-bay-buccaneers","tag-tennessee-titans"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379655","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=379655"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379655\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/379656"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=379655"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=379655"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=379655"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}