The playoff discipline is ready, and wild-card weekend is dripping with storylines.

Matthew Stafford is making his return to Detroit for the Lions’ first dwelling playoff sport since 1993, whereas Jared Goff can be dealing with the Rams, the workforce that traded him away three years in the past. Two of the NFL’s iconic franchises will meet in Dallas. And Tyreek Hill is headed again to Kansas City.

In Miami, the Bills received their fifth straight sport to shut the common season — and clinch their fourth consecutive division title.

In New England, one of many storied teaching runs in any sport would possibly’ve seen its remaining chapter. But in true Bill Belichick vogue, there was no further emotion, no farewell wave to the followers at Gillette Stadium. His unsure future after 24 seasons main the Patriots stays one of many largest questions across the league heading into Black Monday.

In Tennessee, Derrick Henry seemingly performed his final sport with the Titans.

In Green Bay, Matt LeFleur improved to 10-0 towards the Bears, which helped the Packers clinch a playoff spot in their first 12 months post-Aaron Rodgers. Chicago, in the meantime, enters the offseason with the No. 1 decide and an enormous query to reply on Justin Fields.

In New Orleans, Saints coach Dennis Allen learned in the event you pile on the factors late in a blowout win over Arthur Smith and the Falcons, Smith will let you understand how he feels about it. Right earlier than he will get fired.

For the Rams, Puka Nacua capped off a stellar first season with two NFL data: probably the most receptions (105) and yards (1,486) by a rookie receiver in NFL historical past.

Also of observe: all 4 AFC North groups (the Ravens, Browns, Steelers and Bengals) completed above .500 this season, the primary time a division’s completed that since 1935; and for the nineteenth straight 12 months, the NFC East didn’t have a repeat champion.

So far, 4 teaching jobs are open: the Panthers, Raiders and Chargers by way of mid-season firings and the Falcons after Smith’s dismissal. More will change into obtainable starting Monday.

Here’s what we learned from the ultimate week of the NFL common season:

The AFC East nonetheless runs by way of Buffalo. And eight weeks in the past, not many had the Bills even making the playoffs.

Buffalo capped a powerful late-season turnaround Sunday evening in Miami, beating the Dolphins 21-14 to clinch a fourth straight division crown. The Bills had been 6-6 and mired in midseason controversy after falling in time beyond regulation in Philadelphia in late November however responded with 5 straight wins to shut the common season, together with victories over the Chiefs, Cowboys and Dolphins.

The win clinches the AFC’s No. 2 seed for the Bills, who host the Steelers subsequent weekend.

Sunday evening’s win was the total Josh Allen Experience — he was at his worst at instances in the primary half, tossing two interceptions, then at his greatest at instances in the second, making performs along with his arm and his legs and hauling the Bills to an enormous victory.

For Miami, that makes 15 straight seasons with out a division title. With the loss, the Dolphins — who had been in the working for the No. 1 seed as lately as just a few weeks in the past — fall to the No. 6 seed and can journey to Kansas City for his or her playoff opener Saturday evening. It’ll be the primary time Tyreek Hill has performed in GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium since his commerce from the Chiefs after the 2021 season.

The Chiefs beat the Dolphins 21-14 earlier this season in Germany.

2. Cowboys safe No. 2 seed, Eagles’ free fall continues

For the second time in three years underneath coach Mike McCarthy, the Cowboys are NFC East champs. Dallas’ 38-10 win over Washington on Sunday secured the NFC’s No. 2 seed for the Cowboys, establishing a juicy wild-card matchup subsequent weekend with McCarthy’s outdated workforce, the Packers.

But let’s be actual: the Eagles’ late-season collapse — Philly stumbled from 10-1 in early December to 11-6 by season’s finish — cleared the trail for Dallas’ division crown.

And now the Eagles have some damage considerations that might impression their sport subsequent week in Tampa Bay. Both quarterback Jalen Hurts (finger) and vast receiver A.J. Brown (knee) had been banged up in Philadelphia’s loss to the Giants on Sunday, a sport in which coach Nick Sirianni pulled his starters halfway by way of anyway. Hurts mentioned the center finger on his throwing hand “popped out” and he plans on taking it day-to-day this week. Brown was seen standing up and greeting teammates as they entered the locker room after the sport.

“I’m hoping he’s OK, but we’ll see as the week goes,” Sirianni mentioned of Brown.

But even with Hurts and Brown wholesome, the Eagles dropped 5 of their remaining six after proudly owning the NFC’s high seed as lately as late November. Philly appears to be like like a very completely different workforce proper now. And not in a great way.

“I think that’s something that we’ve searched for,” Hurts mentioned when requested in regards to the Eagles’ id. “We haven’t had the consistency we’ve desired as a team, and that’s something we’ve been kind of looking for.”

This, maybe, was extra telling.

“We spent the whole season trying to find out exactly what identity we have as a team,” linebacker Zach Cunningham informed The Athletic’s Brooks Kubena. “So, I don’t know exactly what I can say for that.”

They’ve bought every week left to seek out it.

Elsewhere in the NFC, Jordan Love closed his first common season as Green Bay’s beginning quarterback in model, tossing two touchdowns in a 17-9 win over the Bears that punched the Packers’ playoff ticket.

And in Carolina, the Bucs clinched their third straight NFC South title. And this time, they did it with out Tom Brady.

The season in Tampa Bay started with questions, beginning with who would exchange Brady at quarterback. Baker Mayfield? Kyle Trask? It took nearly all of coaching camp earlier than Mayfield lastly earned the nod. An unlikely redemption story adopted: Mayfield, on his fourth workforce in three years, lifted the Bucs from a 4-7 begin and has them again in the playoffs.

A 9-0 win over the Panthers on Sunday — the Bucs’ fifth in their remaining six video games — sealed it. With each the Bucs and Saints ending 9-8, Tampa Bay received the tiebreaker due to a greater report towards widespread opponents (the groups cut up head-to-head conferences this 12 months and had similar 4-2 division data).

3. Jaguars’ collapse paves manner for Texans’ shock division title

When the calendar flipped from November to December, the Jaguars had been 8-3, only a half sport behind the Ravens and Dolphins in the race for the AFC’s high seed. They had a 96 % shot at making the playoffs. A bit of over a month later, they’re out.

Stunning, actually.

“I think today’s game is our season in a nutshell,” coach Doug Pederson mentioned after Sunday’s 28-20 loss in Tennessee.

After successful 5 straight to shut the common season final 12 months, then making a run to the divisional spherical of the playoffs, Jacksonville entered the season as a workforce on the rise, thought of by some as a darkish horse Super Bowl contender. Nothing by way of the primary three months of the common season hinted in any other case.

What adopted was the league’s most confounding collapse of 2023: the Jaguars dropped 5 of their final six to overlook the postseason altogether. All the Jags needed to do was beat a six-win Titans workforce on Sunday and they might have repeated as AFC South champs. It didn’t occur.

Down 8 with 7:14 left, Trevor Lawrence audibled on the line of scrimmage on a decisive fourth-and-goal from the Titans’ 2-yard-line. He prolonged his arm, hoping his attain would get the soccer throughout the road, however got here up brief.

“If you do it, you better score, and I didn’t,” Lawrence mentioned later. “So it’s unfortunate.”

Then, on Jacksonville’s remaining drive, after overthrowing Calvin Ridley, Lawrence badly missed tight finish Evan Engram on fourth-and-2.

That sealed it. The Jaguars end 9-8 and can watch the playoffs from dwelling. Lawrence’s accidents during the last month definitely didn’t assist — an ankle at first, then his throwing shoulder, which he gutted by way of Sunday — however the points stretch additional. Jacksonville’s solely win relationship again to November got here towards the Panthers, simply the worst workforce in the league.

Take nothing away from the Texans, who outlasted the Colts 23-19 Saturday evening in a win-and-in state of affairs. Thanks to the Jags’ loss a day later, they earned their first division title since 2019. A franchise that received all of 11 video games throughout the final three seasons received 10 in DeMeco Ryans’ first 12 months.

And in doing so, the Texans turned the NFL’s first workforce because the 2012 Colts to advance to the postseason with a rookie head coach and a rookie quarterback. Despite lacking two begins, C.J. Stroud completed with 4,108 passing yards, the third-most by a rookie quarterback in league historical past.

4. NFL Draft order set

Entering Week 18, the Bears already owned the highest decide in this spring’s draft by way of their commerce with the Panthers final 12 months. But the remainder of the Top 10 wasn’t set. Now it’s.

Thanks to the energy of schedule tiebreaker, the Commanders edged the Patriots and Cardinals — all of whom completed 4-13 — for the No. 2 decide. New England will decide third, its highest choice since 1994, and Arizona fourth.

Here’s the remainder of the Top 10:

5. Bill Belichick: “I still enjoy coaching.”

If this certainly was Bill Belichick’s remaining sport with the Patriots, his legendary 24-year run ended with an unpleasant loss to a workforce he hates — the Jets — and extra offensive ineptitude. Under a gentle blanket of snow, New England managed simply 119 yards of complete offense, the fewest of the Belichick period. The earlier low got here manner again in October 2001, three video games into the Tom Brady period.

The Patriots’ 4-13 report is the worst of Belichick’s profession, together with his 5 seasons in Cleveland. It’s additionally New England’s worst end since 1992.

Now comes the choice, from proprietor Robert Kraft — or maybe from Belichick himself — on what occurs subsequent. The Athletic’s Chad Graff reported lately that the 2 are anticipated to fulfill Monday to debate a path ahead, “but at this point, a mutual parting of ways is very much possible — if not likely.”

Belichick was predictably tightlipped on the subject following Sunday’s loss, solely permitting that he deliberate to fulfill with Kraft now that the season was completed, one thing he at all times does. The 71-year-old did enable this, although: “I still enjoy coaching.”

It would put an finish to one of many NFL’s storied runs, a six-championship, two-decade dynasty that wilted slowly after Brady left following the 2019 season. The regression was stark this 12 months. The Patriots scored fewer factors than any workforce in soccer, and the wants to deal with this offseason — quarterback, receiver and offensive sort out, for starters — are considerable irrespective of who’s teaching them in 2024.

(Photo of Trevor Lawrence: Todd Justin Ford / Getty Images)

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