"I'll see you in two weeks."
That was Lions head coach Dan Campbell’s post-game message to Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell as the two bench bosses met at centre field following Detroit’s 31-9 victory Sunday night.
As determined by the evening’s outcome, the next two weeks will look very different for these divisional foes.
The Lions, whose win in Sunday night’s regular-season finale clinched Detroit the division for the second straight year and booked them a bye week as the NFC’s No. 1 seed for the first time in franchise history, the next two weeks will be spent resting, recovering, and readying themselves for their Divisional Weekend foe — Vikings or otherwise.
Minnesota, meanwhile, must pack its bags for a trip to L.A. to take on the Rams next Monday night as the winningest fifth seed the NFL’s ever seen. The right to still be playing football in two weeks — a possible rematch with Detroit, if Campbell’s playoff predictions come true — will have to yet be earned.
Here’s what we learned on a busy final Sunday of the NFL’s regular season.
Despite injuries, Detroit’s defence steps up
Sam Darnold. Justin Jefferson. Jordan Addison. Aaron Jones. T.J. Hockenson. The Minnesota Vikings have one of the finest groups of offensive position players in the league, and yet Detroit’s defence had an answer for every single one of them.
Darnold’s numbers were pedestrian: 18 of 41, 166 yards, no touchdowns. Jefferson had just three catches. The only points scored came on a trio of field goals made by kicker Will Reichard.
It was a surprising turn of events, not because Detroit’s defence isn’t talented but because it simply hasn’t been healthy. It’s a unit that allowed more than 30 points in three of four December matchups.
The return of linebacker and defensive leader Alex Anzalone, who broke his arm in mid-November but was cleared to return against Minnesota, brought a major boost to the group, and a reminder of what this unit can do. Their near-constant pressure of Darnold, forcing him out of the pocket (and way outside his comfort zone), was a stroke of genius by coordinator Aaron Glenn, whose phone will be ringing with interview requests from teams seeking the next great head coaching candidate.
When healthy, Detroit’s defence can stop just about anyone. But health has not been on their side.
Now, this unit has a week to rest — good thing, too, considering the long list of names on injured reserve, and the fact that more names may be added, including rookie cornerback Terrion Arnold who left Sunday’s game with a foot injury.
Gibbs’ career game drives Detroit to top seed
We waited all day for Sunday night, and even when the NFL’s highly anticipated grand finale of the regular season kicked off, we had to wait a little longer for the scoring to heat up.
For a game billed as a high-octane battle between two of the league’s most prolific offences, this one was largely defined by its defence — until Lions running back Jahmyr Gibbs got the ball, that is.
Gibbs scored all four of Detroit’s touchdowns Sunday night — three on the ground, plus another through the air — to make up for what was, at many times in this game, an offence that looked out of sync.
Gibbs ran for 139 yards on 23 carries and had 170 total yards, and in doing so he reminded everyone just how dynamic Detroit’s offence is. Even when the passing game isn’t operating at full speed, they can still trounce you on the ground.
Gibbs finishes the regular season as the league leader in total touchdowns this season, with 20.
Evans' historic achievement makes Buccaneers' playoff-clinching win even more special
The final week of the NFL season brought plenty of special moments — lucrative ones, too, considering all the contract incentives in play — but none feel quite as celebratory as the one that saw Mike Evans embraced by every single Tampa Bay teammate as the clock wound down to victory.
With their win over the New Orleans Saints, and their status as NFC South champs, in-hand late in Sunday’s matchup, the Buccaneers chose not to take a knee but rather run a play — a small one, but a significant one. Because while Baker Mayfield’s short completion to top target Mike Evans didn’t do much for the game’s outcome, it did write Evans’ name into the history books.
Evans finished the 2024 regular season with 1,004 receiving yards, marking his 11th consecutive campaign with 1,000-plus yards. That ties him with the great Jerry Rice for consecutive such seasons. Evans stands alone in accomplishing the feat in his first 11 NFL seasons, however — a page in the history books all his own.
It was a risky play, sure — one wrong move could’ve led to a pick or fumble to open the door for the Saints to get the ball once more. (That all this was happening while the Falcons were pushing for overtime against the Panthers only raised the stakes even further.) But it was never in question:
QB1? Playoffs? Broncos have both
Since winning Super Bowl 50 and sending Peyton Manning into retirement a two-time champ in February 2015, the Denver Broncos have been looking for their next franchise quarterback — and their next playoff run.
After nine years of searching, it looks like they’ve found both.
Rookie QB Bo Nix, Denver’s 14th different starter since Manning’s championship swan song, was nearly perfect against the Kansas City Chiefs' B-Team on Sunday to officially book the Broncos' trip to the post-season.
Nix completed 26 of 29 passes for 321 yards and four touchdowns and led his club's rushing efforts, too, with 47 yards as the Broncos blanked the Chiefs 38-0. His performance was not only a rallying cry for Denver's bright future but a reminder of the importance of patience. Nix’s rookie campaign started off shaky, after all, but his growth all season — both on his feet and through the air — under Sean Payton’s guidance has seen Denver climb the standings week after week as the defence found its footing, too. Nix now wraps up his first regular season as a pro as the first rookie QB to take the Broncos to the post-season since John Elway did it in 1983.
Denver entered the season finale in win-and-you’re-in mode, with a little extra pressure to do so considering the Cincinnati Bengals — the squad that kept its playoff hopes alive with a win against Denver a week ago — topped the Pittsburgh Steelers on Saturday to stir up extra intrigue heading into Sunday’s slate.
Burrow & Co. needed both the Broncos and the Miami Dolphins (vs. Jets) to lose in order to sneak into the AFC’s seventh seed. And while the Jets did their peers in stripes a solid, defeating the Dolphins 32-20, Nix wasn’t going to let another opportunity pass him by.
Bryce Young is so back
Back in September, it was hard not to look at the Carolina Panthers’ rebuild as anything other than disastrous. Despite bringing in noted QB guru Dave Canales as the team’s new head coach, second-year quarterback Bryce Young still looked incapable of running an NFL offence. He was benched early on, with trade speculation following soon after, while his future was very much in question — not just in Carolina, but in the NFL.
But over the course of the second half of the season, things have really come together for the 23-year-old. He’s connecting with his weapons, throwing touchdowns in 10 straight matchups, while keeping interceptions to a minimum. He’s playing with confidence, with poise, and — most importantly — with a smile, too, clearly having fun on the football field again.
And Sunday’s overtime victory against the Atlanta Falcons — a team desperate to win in order to keep its playoff hopes alive — looked like a blast. Young completed 25 passes (one shy of his season-high) for 251 yards and three touchdowns, plus another two on foot, in Carolina’s 44-38 overtime victory.
Canales praised his quarterback post-game, saying "We’ve got our guy." Despite a losing season for the 5-12 club, the emergence of Young as the unquestioned starting QB of this squad marks a major victory that’s bigger than the scoresheet.
Now the rebuild around him can really begin.
Post-Belichick Patriots still looking for his successor
Robert Kraft called it "one of the hardest decisions" he’s ever made.
It was certainly a swift one. A mere hour after the Patriots’ season concluded with a Week 18 victory over Buffalo’s backups, New England’s owner announced the firing of head coach Jerod Mayo after just one season. The timing suggests this call wasn’t based on the team’s 4-13 record alone — the same record Belichick’s Patriots posted last year — or the victory that saw the team lose the first overall pick in 2025’s draft. (New England’s win, combined with losses for all three of the Titans, Browns, and Giants, means the Patriots now pick fourth.)
Mayo’s got plenty of history in New England. The former player turned assistant was at the top of the organization’s succession plan and the team handed him the reins last off-season. The leadup to his hiring turned out to be longer than his head coaching tenure, raising a few eyebrows about what, exactly, prompted Kraft to make the change and why he didn’t give the rookie bench boss more time to develop with a team that’s clearly not built to win yet.
Rodgers registers historic No. 500. What comes next?
Wire to wire, the 2024 New York Jets were a mess. But in a season of frustrations and head-scratching decisions, Sunday’s Week 18 win over the Miami Dolphins brought a rare reason to celebrate.
Midway through the second quarter, Aaron Rodgers threw a five-yard touchdown pass to tight end Tyler Conklin — the veteran QB’s 500th career NFL touchdown pass. Rodgers, 41, is just the fifth quarterback to reach the milestone, joining Brett Favre (508), Peyton Manning (539), Drew Brees (571), and Tom Brady (649).
Rodgers finished the game with four touchdown tosses — the best total of his Jets tenure, which has seen Gang Green’s offence struggle mightily — to bring his career total to 503.
If he has a chance to add to that total, it’s safe to say it won’t be with the Jets. The failed experiment has put Rodgers’ future in doubt, with speculation circulating that Sunday marked the final game of his career. Was this in fact his final act?
It’s not the playoffs, but Bears' win over Packers still means something
Like the Jets, very little went right for the Chicago Bears this season. But like the Jets, the Bears closed out the 2024 campaign with something to celebrate — because for the first time since 2018, the Bears beat the Packers. And they did it at Lambeau, with a walk-off field goal, to boot.
The 24-22 victory marked Chicago’s first win since they defeated the Jacksonville Jaguars across the pond in London in Week 6 to head into the bye 4-2. It also served as a spoiler in Green Bay’s hunt for the sixth seed. The Packers’ loss, combined with Washington’s win over Dallas, means Green Bay falls to the seventh seed — and a date with the Eagles in Philadelphia.
The stage is set. Who you got?
Eighteen weeks of regular season football now brings us to the moment we’ve all been waiting for.
It’s playoff time, folks. With all 14 seeds locked in and matchups now set, here’s what the 2024 NFL playoff picture looks like as we look ahead to Wild Card Weekend:
AFC: 1. Kansas City Chiefs; 2. Buffalo Bills; 3. Baltimore Ravens; 4. Houston Texans; 5. Los Angeles Chargers; 6. Pittsburgh Steelers; 7. Denver Broncos.
AFC Wild Card Weekend matchups:
Chiefs: bye
Chargers at Texans: Saturday, Jan. 11 at 4:30 p.m. ET
Steelers at Ravens: Saturday, Jan. 11 at 8 p.m. ET
Broncos at Bills: Sunday, Jan. 12 at 1 p.m. ET
NFC: 1. Detroit Lions 2. Philadelphia Eagles; 3. Tampa Bay Buccaneers; 4. Los Angeles Rams; 5. Minnesota Vikings; 6. Washington Commanders; 7. Green Bay Packers.
NFC Wild Card Weekend matchups:
Lions: bye
Packers at Eagles: Sunday, Jan. 12 at 4:30 p.m. ET
Commanders at Buccaneers: Sunday, Jan. 12 at 7:30 p.m. ET
Vikings at Rams: Monday, Jan. 13 at 8 p.m. ET
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