Overview
- Tampa Bay beat Carolina 16-14, leaving the NFC South to be decided Sunday: the Buccaneers clinch if the Saints beat the Falcons, but a Falcons win triggers a three-way tie that awards the division to the Panthers on tiebreakers.
- Seattle and San Francisco play for both the NFC West title and the conference’s No. 1 seed; a tie would give Seattle the top spot, while the loser can be no better than the No. 5 seed and San Francisco could fall to No. 6 with a loss and a Rams win.
- The matchup features rare momentum, as both the Seahawks and 49ers enter on six-game winning streaks, a first for a regular-season finale per Elias Sports Bureau.
- Experts and oddsmakers largely leaned toward San Francisco in pregame projections, highlighting Brock Purdy’s recent surge against Seattle’s top-tier defense.
- Both Saturday games aired on ABC/ESPN, and Sunday night’s Ravens-Steelers finale on NBC/Peacock will decide the AFC North and the conference’s No. 4 seed.