Week 16 NFC Thursday & Saturday Recap: Shaping Up and Shipping Out

Week 16 begins that do-or-die period of the NFL season; the period where many teams are running out of time for the most important things. It's also the first taste of Saturday NFL action, but before we get to that, we have to start from the beginning of the week. Thursday Night Football was a battle in the NFC West between the Los Angeles Rams and the Seattle Seahawks, who entered the contest tied for not only first place in the division, but also first place in the conference.

The Rams won the first meeting a few weeks prior, and another win would move them one win away from locking up the division. It was back and forth at first, but the Rams started to run away with it. A 30-14 victory... late. It was over. Someone forgot to tell Seattle that. Rashid Shaheed's special teams TD got it started, and the two pointer was successful. After the Rams were stopped, the Seahawks loved scoring 8 point touchdowns so much that they did it again. Another TD, another two pointer. The 16 point deficit? Gone. Even so, the Rams had the ball with a chance to possibly win it, but the field goal attempt missed.

OT was underway, and the Rams got the ball first. Puka Nacua scored his second of two touchdowns, but Seattle would strike back. They decided to go for two again, which is the third time we've seen a game winning two-point attempt in OT. The first two teams to do it failed. Seattle didn't. Therefore, as a result:

The Seahawks won, 38-37, in overtime, punching their ticket to this year's playoffs. This is a huge boost for Seattle, considering 2023 saw them narrowly miss out, and last year saw them eliminated via a deep ranked tiebreaker. Here they are, 12-3, leading the entire NFC all by themselves. The Seahawks are one win and one Rams loss away from (at least) winning their division. As for the Rams, this is quite a lull for them. They've lost two of three, with the losses sandwiching a blowout win over the lowly Cardinals. The Rams do have the easier remaining schedule; they'll head to Atlanta next week (MNF) and then host the Cardinals. As for the Seahawks, this was their home regular season finale. They'll be in Charlotte next week, and in Santa Clara to end the regular season.

The first Saturday NFL game of the season was the long overdue first meeting of the season between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Washington Commanders. I am very certain that when this schedule was made, and the two meetings between Philly and Washington were placed very late in the season, the powers that be figured that they would both be alive in the playoff race together. However, what should have been a thrilling rematch of last year's NFC Championship ended up being a between an Eagles team looking to clinch, and a Commanders team dealing with injuries and focusing on next year. The Commanders, though, were giving the Eagles fits, but Philly figured it out in the second half, going on to win, 29-18.

So with the victory, the Eagles have clinched the NFC East, the first time in nearly 20 years that the division has had back-to-back winners. It had been a tough road for the defending Super Bowl Champions, but the Eagles managed to stay afloat and take the division once again. Of course, it also helped that the rest of the division was absolutely messed up. The Giants are, well, the Giants. The Commanders had to deal with injuries to Jayden Daniels and Terry McLaurin for most part this season.

And then there's the Cowboys:

With the Eagles' win, the Dallas Cowboys are now eliminated from playoff contention. The Cowboys entered the week mathematically eliminated from the Wild Card picture, meaning that the division was their only chance. The embarrassment for the Cowboys continues. Only two playoff wins overall for Dak Prescott. Dallas's last playoff appearance was the embarrassing home loss to a seventh-seeded Packers team in 2023. And of course, there's the big one. With this elimination, this now marks the 30th Cowboys season without a Super Bowl Championship. This is also the 30th Cowboys season without a Super Bowl appearance. Hell, this is the 30th Cowboys season without an NFC Championship appearance. All because Jerry Jones had to be, well, Jerry Jones.

Oh boy. So Saturday's NFL extravaganza ended with the Green Bay Packers and the Chicago Bears in a pivotal battle for the NFC North. The first quarter was nuts, having everything but points. Then the worst case scenario happened: Jordan Love got injured. Hard late hit saw Love's head hit heard. Went into concussion protocol. Packers had a 6-0 lead at halftime, and it was 6-3 later on. Oh, and Love? Out for the rest of the night. Malik Willis did get a touchdown pass, and after field goals were traded, it was 16-6. Bears made it 16-9, but they needed to get the onside kick. And before you could say "Brandon Bostick..."

Yeah, Romeo Doubs bobbled it, Bears got it, and the sound you heard was Packers fans screaming and ranting about 2014's NFC Championship. Bears found the end zone late, and OT happened. Packers had the ball first, but a 4th and 1 attempt saw a fumble mess things up. Bears ball and it was sudden death from that point. A field goal could win it, but Caleb Williams decided to go for the jugular. A bomb to DJ Moore in the end zone.

Good grief.

This hurts. And I'm not talking about pride or ego hurting, I'm talking about an emotional hurt. It's bad enough that Micah Parsons is out for the year. Now we lost Jordan Love for that game, and then too many things didn't go our way. We are now a game and a half out in the division and we need quite a bit to happen. Hopefully, Love should be back next week. We host the Ravens next Saturday, and then our regular season ends in Minnesota. As for the Bears, they're off to Santa Clara next Sunday, and then they host the Lions in the final week. By a hair, the Packers have an easier remaining schedule, but we have to win next Saturday, or we can forget about the North. We should still get into the playoffs, especially since the Lions are still descending.

So this is the updated NFC playoff picture after the first three games of Week 16. With Dallas eliminated, only the Lions and Panthers are left behind the conference's playoff line. The Lions can't be eliminated this week, but a loss tomorrow will put them on the brink next week. Also, a Lions loss will put the Bears and 49ers in (the latter before they take the field on Monday), while also moving the Packers one win closer to getting in. There's also the pivotal NFC South battle between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Carolina Panthers, and whoever loses that game will be eliminated from the Wild Card picture. The NFC playoff race will be quite a sight to look at as the season winds down.