Every year, the NFL waits as long as possible before announcing the full Week 18 schedule and that announcement finally came on Sunday night.
The final week of the NFL season will kick off on Saturday with a doubleheader and then close out on Sunday night with the Lions and Vikings battling in Detroit. That will be the 272nd and final game of the 2024 season. There will be a lot on the line in that game with the winner taking home the NFC North title and the No. 1 overall seed in the NFC while the loser will be locked into the fifth seed in the NFC.
That means the winner will get a bye in the opening round of the playoffs while the loser will be forced to hit the road for the wild-card round. This will mark the first time in NFL history that two teams with 13 wins or more will face off a regular-season game.
Before we get to that Sunday night game, though, there will be 15 games before that and a lot of those will have playoff implications, starting with both games that will be played on Saturday.
In the first game of the ESPN doubleheader, Baltimore will be hosting Cleveland. The Ravens can clinch the AFC North title with a win over the Browns.
In the late game on Saturday, Pittsburgh will be hosting Cincinnati in a game where the Bengals will need a win to keep their playoff hopes alive. The Bengals are one of three teams battling to earn the final playoff spot in the AFC.
The Broncos are in the driver’s seat to clinch the final spot: All they have to do is beat a Chiefs team that’s expected to bench most of its key players in Week 18.
If the Bengals beat the Steelers, they’ll have to wait until 4:25 p.m. ET on Sunday for the Chiefs-Broncos game. The Dolphins also have a chance to get the last playoff spot in the AFC, and like the Broncos, they’ll also be kicking off at 4:25 p.m. ET in a game against the Jets, so the final spot in the AFC won’t be wrapped up until about 7:30 p.m. ET on Sunday night.
With that in mind, here’s a look at the full Week 18 schedule:
Saturday, Jan. 4
- Browns at Ravens, 4:30 p.m. ET (ESPN/ABC)
- Bengals at Steelers, 8 p.m. ET (ESPN/ABC)
Sunday, Jan. 5
- Giants at Eagles 1 p.m. ET (CBS)
- Bills at Patriots, 1 p.m. ET (CBS)
- Texans at Titans, 1 p.m. ET (CBS)
- Panthers at Falcons, 1 p.m. ET (CBS)
- Commanders at Cowboys, 1 p.m. ET (Fox)
- Bears at Packers, 1 p.m. ET (Fox)
- Saints at Buccaneers, 1 p.m. ET (Fox)
- Jaguars at Colts, 1 p.m. ET (Fox)
- Chiefs at Broncos, 4:25 p.m. ET (CBS)
- Chargers at Raiders, 4:25 p.m. ET (CBS)
- Dolphins at Jets, 4:25 p.m. ET (Fox)
- 49ers at Cardinals, 4:25 p.m. ET (Fox)
- Seahawks at Rams 4:25 p.m. ET (Fox)
- Vikings at Lions, 8:20 p.m. ET (NBC)
