The NFC South champion could be decided Saturday, but only if the Carolina Panthers beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
The Atlanta Falcons’ victory over the Los Angeles Rams on Monday night to cap the penultimate week of the NFL’s regular season means the matchup between Carolina (8-8) and Tampa Bay (7-9) — the 4:30 p.m. game at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida, will be televised by ABC and ESPN — isn’t quite a winner-take-all showdown to finish atop the NFC South.
If the Panthers win, they will secure the NFC South title for the first time since the 2015 season — which they capped by reaching Super Bowl 50 — and their first playoff berth of any type since 2017. If the Bucs (7-9) win, they will only keep alive their hopes for a fifth straight division crown; to clinch it, they need the Falcons (7-9) to lose or tie when the New Orleans Saints (6-10) visit Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Sunday.
There’s the possibility of Atlanta, Carolina and Tampa Bay each finishing 8-9, and in that case, the Panthers would win the three-team tiebreaker. However, the Bucs win the two-team tiebreaker with the Panthers. Atlanta — which was swept in its regular-season series with Carolina but split with Tampa Bay — was eliminated in Week 14.
Week 18 games have plenty to settle before the NFL’s playoff schedule is set.