Once again, it’s that time of the year.
The NFL regular season concluded Sunday, ushering in the start of the playoffs with the wild-card round this coming weekend.
And no team gained more than the Detroit Lions, who earned the NFC’s No. 1 seed after taking down the division-rival Minnesota Vikings, who tumbled to the conference’s fifth seed after their loss in the regular-season finale. That means Detroit will join the Kansas City Chiefs, who already claimed the AFC’s top seed, as the two teams with first-round byes and home-field advantage throughout the postseason.
Elsewhere, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (narrowly) took care of business, while the Denver Broncos left no doubt.
Here are the winners and losers from the final NFL Sunday of the 2024 regular season.
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WINNERS
Lions make (more) history, roll to top of NFC
After a close first half, Detroit (15-2) throttled the Vikings (14-3) in the second half to earn its first ever No. 1 seed in the NFC in team history. The victory also extended the team record for most wins in franchise history. It was a typical Lions masterclass: The offense – which took some time to get going – launched explosive plays that built and then extended a lead.
More impressive, however, was the defensive game plan coordinator Aaron Glenn deployed, unleashing relentless pressure to unsettle Vikings quarterback Sam Darnold, who posted a season-low completion percentage (43.9%). What’s even more impressive is that the Lions so thoroughly dismantled Minnesota despite losing the turnover battle 2-0.
One reason why the bye is essential: Detroit is among the most banged-up teams, particularly on defense, and the extra time off should help them heal up a bit more.
Broncos prove they’re no fluke, affirm Sean Payton, Bo Nix choices
One season ago, before Sean Payton ever coached a game with the Broncos, he roasted the job his predecessor Nathaniel Hackett did in an interview with USA TODAY Sports’ Jarrett Bell. Payton drew widespread criticism. Now, a year-and-a-half later, although the delivery was perhaps overtly blunt and better left withheld from public consumption, Payton was proven right.
The Broncos (10-7) have snapped an eight-season playoff drought, and Payton’s tutelage of rookie quarterback Bo Nix is a big reason why. While the Chiefs rested their starters, the Broncos absolutely took care of business in a 38-point shutout. Nix had three incompletions and four passing touchdowns, going 26-of-29 for 321 yards. That this happened with Denver’s decision to eat the biggest dead cap hit in NFL history by releasing Russell Wilson shows just how efficient Nix and the Broncos have been under Payton.
By the slimmest of margins, Buccaneers get in
Tampa Bay, for the fourth consecutive season, has won the NFC South. It didn’t come without drama, as the Saints led by 10 at the half and by six at the start of the fourth, but the Buccaneers (10-7), as they have for most of the season, relied on grit, competitiveness, well-timed playmaking in the clutch and resilience.
And no player has embodied the Buccaneers resilience more than quarterback Baker Mayfield, who finished the regular season ranked third in passing yards (4,500), tied for second in passing touchdowns (41) and fourth in QB rating (106.8). At times, however, the Buccaneers do stagnate on offense and they can be inconsistent game-to-game. They can be careless with the ball. For them to make a run in the playoffs, they cannot afford any of that.
Commanders stay in 6-seed, avoid tough matchup – for now
Commanders coach Dan Quinn said Washington (12-5) would “fight like hell” to take the No. 6 seed. He removed quarterback Jayden Daniels from the game, so perhaps that was slightly disingenuous, but a game-winning touchdown pass to Terry McLaurin with three seconds left kept the Commanders from having to face the Eagles (14-3) in the wild-card round.
Instead, Washington will face the Buccaneers, a team whose defense the Commanders can exploit. Tampa Bay installs bodies in the box to stop the run and does that well. But the Buccaneers are a bit banged up in the secondary and struggle to stop the pass.
Bryce Young
When he was benched after Week 2, it looked like Bryce Young’s future with the Panthers – despite his being selected No. 1 overall in the 2023 draft – was in doubt. Yet Carolina (5-12) was forced to turn back to Young, and he has rewarded the Panthers with the best play of his career.
Over the last eight games of the season, Young has completed 62.1% of his throws for 1,709 yards and has scored 17 total touchdowns against three interceptions. The offensive line is still an issue, but Young has developed more confidence and is processing quicker. He has earned a future in Carolina; now it’s incumbent on the team to put talent around him.
LOSERS
Vikings tumble to 5-seed, but still lurk as dangerous team
Minnesota (14-3) certainly lost more than any playoff team, missing out on the potential top seed in the NFC and instead settling in at No. 5. The concern for the Vikings is whether Detroit’s constant barrage of pressure provides something of a blueprint for other teams to replicate. That said, not many teams have the athleticism and discipline that the Lions do.
Detroit held the Vikings without a single conversion in three fourth-down tries, four red-zone attempts and three goal-to-goal scenarios. But there’s still a chance for the Vikings to earn the ultimate bragging right; if they beat the Rams in the wild-card round, they will get a rematch against the Lions in two weeks in the divisional round, once again at Ford Field in Detroit.
It wouldn’t have mattered, but Atlanta defense lets the Falcons down, again
Given the optimism with which the Falcons (8-9) entered this season, with the signing of Kirk Cousins and a reworked coaching staff, this year can be considered nothing but a failure. For Atlanta to make it into the postseason, it needed to beat the Panthers and rely on the Saints beating the Buccaneers. Neither happened.
Patriots, long the paradigm of stability, opt for chaos
Perhaps they became so spoiled by the constant continuity of the 24 seasons of the Bill Belichick era, perhaps they impractically thought the first year of a rebuild would be better than this, but the Patriots (4-13) opted for instability by making Jerod Mayo, who had been appointed as Belichick’s successor, a one-and-done.
More may emerge in the coming days about internal friction, and Mayo’s operation was far from perfect, but New England should know better than most teams that coaching instability is the quickest path toward poor performance and irrelevance. The roster has massive holes and the offense lacks elite playmaking ability, particularly at receiver. Rookie quarterback Drake Maye will now almost certainly have three different offensive coordinators in as many seasons, going back to his final season with the Tar Heels. Perhaps the Patriots feel very good about their chances to land a replacement for Mayo whom they feel is a clear upgrade. That’s the only way this can be justified.
Dolphins, Bengals discover the pitfalls of relying on help
Both these squads needed help and both missed out on the playoffs. Cincy (9-8) started miserably slowly, beginning 1-4, including a season-opening loss to the rebuilding Patriots, a team that finished with four wins. Miami couldn’t weather early-season struggles, and its plan at backup quarterback doomed its prospects. The Dolphins couldn’t even top the struggling Jets on Sunday, allowing Aaron Rodgers to throw four touchdowns, the first time he has done so since Week 13 … of 2021.