NFL Week 17 Thursday & Saturday Recap: Charge!!!

Week 17 kicked off with a pair of games on Christmas Day that started to mold the AFC playoff picture into proper placement. Fourteen games remained on the proverbial plate, with four of them taking place before the heart of the schedule took center stage. One took place on Thursday, while the other three occurred on Saturday, but all of them were very vital to the overall postseason picture.

So here's what took place, in chronological order:

Seahawks @ Bears

It was a hell of a game on the diamond; the Mariners won it, 6-3, over the White Sox behind three-run shots from Julio Rodriguez and Cal Raleigh. Wait, that can't be right. It's December; baseball's over. Oh my goodness, this was a football score?! Yikes. So it was the Seattle Seahawks winning 6-3 over the Chicago Bears because Thursday Night games on Prime just have to be ugly. Two field goals to one. 6-3 was actually the score at halftime. Yeah.

In any event, it's a win for the Seahawks, and a much needed one, as they entered Week 17 as one of the two NFC teams behind the playoff line who were still kicking. As for the Bears, that's ten straight losses this year, and this was their home finale. Oh man. Speaking of finale, this was the Thursday Night Football finale, but it's not the last game for Amazon Prime this year; they will air a Wild Card Playoff game this year.

Chargers @ Patriots

Congratulations to the Los Angeles Chargers! There was never any doubt. The Saturday tripleheader kicked off with the Chargers absolutely flattening the lowly New England Patriots, 40-7, and that win placed the Bolts in the playoffs for the second time in three years, and the first time under head coach Jim Harbaugh. The Chargers absolutely found their footing this year under Harbaugh, and this was done despite the team getting rid of both of their top wide receivers and their main running back prior to the start of the season. A 10-win season with a chance to finish with 11. Absolutely amazing!

The Chargers are locked in as one of the three Wild Cards in the AFC, and they will end the regular season in Las Vegas against the Raiders. Their seeding is to be determined; more on that later.

Broncos @ Bengals

It's fitting that this game between the Cincinnati Bengals and the Denver Broncos was the middle game of the tripleheader, because it was definitely the centerpiece of the Saturday action. This was the only game that was a potential elimination game, and it was Cincy who was on life support. The Broncos and Bengals were back and forth; Cincy led 7-3 at halftime, but it was tied at 10 entering the fourth quarter. It turned into a 17-all affair with Cincy having the ball deep in FG range at the two minute warning. Chase Brown ran it down to the one and took an intentional knee, but got hurt doing so. Cincy opted to push Joe Burrow in for a score with nearly a minute and a half left, but surely the Broncos wouldn't go 70 yards in that little time, right?

Sure enough, they did. Took all but six seconds remaining to do it. So we have overtime.

Cincy got the ball first, but they went three and out and had to punt. It became sudden death from that point, and the Broncos could move down the field and get the FG. No go, they punted deep in their territory, and Cincy had good field position. They made it deep in field goal range, it was a 33-yarder (the current extra point) for Cade York. Kick was up... hit the upright. Out. Oh boy. 2:43 left in OT, and Denver had the ball. The clock was not on their side. Even if this game ends tied, that would end Cincy's season, as Denver would get in. Denver goes three and out again, and Cincy had one final chance. This time, they cashed in, and it was a touchdown pass from Burrow to Tee Higgins! Bengals won 30-24, and kept hope alive!

Cardinals @ Rams

The Arizona Cardinals and the Los Angeles Rams had a tough act to follow, so they decided to engage in that typical ugly NFC West football that we know and love. The game was scoreless for most of the first half, until the Rams struck first with a touchdown. After a long field goal, it was 10-0 LA at halftime, but the shutout didn't last long. Trey McBride found the end zone, but the extra point was blocked. The two teams traded field goals, and the Cardinals had one more chance to pull off one hell of an upset, as well as help the Seahawks out. In a crazy moment, Kyler Murray's pass ended up hitting McBride's helmet, and landing in the hands of Ahkello Witherspoon for the clinching interception. Wow!

Remember when this Rams team was 1-4 and pretty much dead? They're doing that thing again. Last year, the Rams were 3-6 and won seven of their last eight to get into the playoffs. This year, they were 1-4 and deemed done this year. Since then? 8-2 in their last 10 games, and closing in on winning the NFC West. What a difference a couple of months make.

Updates

10 games remain in the Week 17 schedule, and there's still a lot to decipher. One spot remains in the AFC's playoff field, and at the moment, it's the Broncos and Bengals competing for said spot. The Bengals kept hope alive with their win, but they'll have to scoreboard watch on Sunday. They need the Colts and Dolphins to both lose this week, and next week, Cincy will need to win and Denver to lose to get in via tiebreaker. Regarding seeding, the Broncos loss means they can't pass the Chargers and the AFC North runner up; they can only get the #7 seed if they get in. Chargers can finish as high as #5 in the conference. If the Broncos somehow miss the playoffs, you just know that fans will look at that blocked field goal against KC, even though Denver has lost back-to-back games with the win and in scenario.

As I stated before, Seattle's ugly win kept them alive for the NFC West, but the Rams also won. Here's the thing: the Rams got help prior to their game kicking off. With the Bengals winning, the Rams now only need a combined 2.5 wins from the following teams: Commanders, Bills, Browns, Vikings, and 49ers. This is what the Rams need to clinch the Strength of Victory tiebreaker, which would give LA the NFC West and eliminate the Seahawks from playoff contention. If three of those five listed teams lose, then it will set up a winner-take-all contest for the NFC West next week.

I'm very amped to see what the rest of Week 17 will bring us; it does look like we could get a lot of chaos in the penultimate week of the season! Should be absolutely intriguing!