After much anticipation, the NFL’s Week 18 schedule has been released.
As Sunday night’s game between the Green Bay Packers and Minnesota Vikings would down, the schedule was released.
The Baltimore Ravens will host the Pittsburgh Steelers in the first of three standalone games, which will begin on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. ET. Later on Saturday, the Indianapolis Colts will host the Houston Texans at 8:15 p.m. ET. Both games will be televised on ESPN and ABC.
Week 18’s Sunday Night Football finale on NBC will be the game between the Buffalo Bills and Miami Dolphins in Miami. The winner will be crowned AFC East champions.
The remaining games will be played on Sunday afternoon, broadcast by CBS and Fox.
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This is more or less what was expected after Week 17’s games. Once the Bills beat the New England Patriots and the Dolphins lost to the Ravens, that became the obvious Sunday Night Football matchup. Miami has already clinched a playoff spot and depending on what happens earlier in the day, the Bills can still make the playoffs with a loss. But a showdown for the division title is an ideal Week 18 Sunday night finale.
Houston’s game in Indianapolis is also a natural prime-time matchup. Those two teams enter Week 18 with matching 9-7 records. The Colts currently occupy the AFC’s seventh and final postseason spot but the Texans would take that over with a win. The winner in Indianapolis could also end up winning the AFC South if the Jacksonville Jaguars (who are also 9-7) are upset by the Tennessee Titans.
As has been the case since 2010, all 16 games from the weekend are divisional matchups. The Ravens, Dolphins, Chiefs and Cleveland Browns have all clinched playoff spots in the AFC. Baltimore and Kansas City have both clinched their respective divisions while the Ravens are locked into the No. 1 seed.
It’s a similar picture in the NFC with the San Francisco 49ers, Dallas Cowboys, Philadelphia Eagles, Detroit Lions and Los Angeles Rams all having clinched playoff spots. The 49ers and Lions have their divisions clinched while the 49ers clinched the No. 1 seed.
