NFL Winners and Losers: Buccaneers flirt with disaster, but clinch NFC South with ugly win

The NFC South isn’t exactly charging into the playoffs. History won’t remember that, only that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers got the job done.

It was far from the sure thing it was supposed to be. The Buccaneers got a tough test from a New Orleans Saints team that had been decimated by injuries and was given little chance to compete with the Buccaneers, who would win the NFC South with a win or an Atlanta Falcons loss vs. the Carolina Panthers on Sunday.

Just remember before Week 18 next season that it’s often a fallacy to believe a team will lay down because it has “nothing to play for.”

The Saints had a spirited effort and led into the fourth quarter. Eventually the Buccaneers got it right. Baker Mayfield threw a touchdown to Jalen McMillan in the fourth quarter to give the Bucs their first lead of the game. The Buccaneers scored an insurance touchdown in the final two minutes, but the Saints drove downfield with a chance to tie it. Tampa Bay got the stop it needed and took the division title with an ugly 27-19 win.

They even got Mike Evans his 1,000-yard season on the final play of the game, keeping his streak alive. He has had 1,000 yards in 11 straight seasons, tying Jerry Rice’s NFL record.

That meant the Falcons’ game against the Panthers, which was surprisingly going into overtime, meant nothing by the time the extra period started. The Falcons were eliminated when the Buccaneers won. It’s probably better off for the Falcons anyway, because they lost 44-38 in overtime as Bryce Young had three passing touchdowns and two rushing TDs. That loss would have been horribly embarrassing had the Buccaneers also lost. Now, it’ll be mostly a footnote.

The NFC South race seemed to be over long before Sunday when the Falcons lost in overtime at Washington in Week 17. The Buccaneers were facing the sad-sack Saints, who had lost their previous two games by a combined 59-10 score. Once the Buccaneers won, they’d be on their way to the playoffs.

But two weird things happened. The Saints never trailed in the first three quarters at Tampa Bay. Meanwhile, the Falcons were struggling with the Panthers. The Buccaneers and Falcons both trailed going into the fourth quarter of their games. It seemed for a while that both teams might lose, meaning the Buccaneers might back their way into the division title in the ugliest way possible.

The Buccaneers finally got something going in the fourth quarter. Mayfield hit McMillan for 33 yards on a key fourth-and-8. McMillan got a 15-yard penalty after the play for what officials seemingly deemed a gun gesture by McMillan after the first down. The rookie made up for it with a touchdown catch to give the Bucs the lead.

The Falcons were rallying at the same time. Right after McMillan scored in Tampa Bay, Drake London continued his huge day with a touchdown to pull the Falcons into a tie with the Panthers. It was a fun day for NFL RedZone. Eventually the Buccaneers did just enough to win.

The Buccaneers trailed 16-6 at halftime and Mayfield was 0-41 in his career when trailing by at least 10 points. The Bucs were clearly in trouble. But they are moving onto the playoffs. It’s a great accomplishment to come from behind and win the NFC South, after it looked like the Falcons would run away with it following a season sweep of the Buccaneers. And even though Tampa Bay wasn’t great on Sunday, the Bucs won’t be an easy out in the playoffs.

They’ll host the Washington Commanders next Sunday during wild-card weekend.

Here are the winners and losers from Week 18 of the NFL season:

WINNERS

Bo Nix: No, Nix isn’t going to win NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year. He might not finish in the top two.

But he has had a tremendous season, especially for those who weren’t sure what the Denver Broncos were doing drafting him 12th overall.

Nix finished his first regular season in style, throwing for 321 yards and four touchdowns in a 38-0 win over the Kansas City Chiefs that clinched Denver’s first playoff berth since 2015. Nix also led the Broncos with 47 yards rushing.

Nix was the sixth quarterback taken off the board, and he looks like a long-term answer for Denver. We’ll get to see what he can do in his first postseason action next Sunday at Buffalo.

Los Angeles Chargers: If you’re picking a playoff opponent, would it be the Ravens or Texans?

Clearly the answer is Houston, and the Chargers agreed with that.

The Chargers, playing for the No. 5 seed and the right to go to Houston for wild-card weekend after the Steelers’ loss on Saturday, got the job done against the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday. The Chargers had a fairly painless 34-20 win, looking good as they have most of this season. Unlike some other teams on Sunday that didn’t seem too concerned with their seed or opponent, the Chargers played with a purpose to win.

With the win the Chargers get a beatable Texans team on Saturday afternoon instead of having to try to knock off the Ravens, one of the few Super Bowl contenders in the AFC.

It’s a good chance for head coach Jim Harbaugh to not just get the Chargers into the playoffs in his first season back in the NFL, but also win at least one postseason game.

Geno Smith: You couldn’t say Smith had nothing to play for on Sunday.

Smith was chasing some incentives in the season finale and one of them was a $2 million bonus for the Seattle Seahawks winning their 10th game. Presumably that crossed Smith’s mind when he threw a go-ahead touchdown to Noah Fant with less than four minutes to play, then watched as the Seahawks defense held on in the final seconds to close out a 30-25 win over the Los Angeles Rams.

The Rams didn’t play starters and the game was closer than it should have been, but Seattle still got the win.

Smith threw for 223 yards and four touchdowns. There will be some discussion about Smith and his future with the team this offseason. He goes into the winter and spring on a good performance, with a little more money (a total of $6 million in incentives) in his pocket too.

Marcus Mariota: There was a big difference for the Washington Commanders in getting the sixth seed. That meant they’d avoid a date at Philadelphia on wild-card weekend. Washington needed a win to ensure getting the No. 6 seed and not falling down to No. 7. Despite that, the Commanders still pulled rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels to start the second half.

Mariota got the job done off the bench. He broke a huge 33-yard run on a quarterback sneak on fourth-and-1 in the final minute, then hit Terry McLaurin for a game-winning touchdown with three seconds left to beat the Dallas Cowboys 23-19. The Commanders got the No. 6 seed in the NFC playoffs and will face the Buccaneers next Sunday.

Mariota was great in a relief role. He was 15-of-18 for 181 yards and two touchdowns, and also ran for 56 yards. Daniels has had a historic rookie season, but the Commanders didn’t even need him to beat the Cowboys on Sunday.

Joe Milton III: Week 18 is for players like Milton. The New England Patriots weren’t interested in putting their best foot forward in the finale, considering a loss would clinch the first pick of the 2025 NFL Draft. So Drake Maye played a series and was replaced by Milton, the raw rookie who had some splash plays in the preseason.

And Milton played well. Well enough that New England didn’t get that loss most Patriots fans probably wanted. He looked like what the Colts thought they were getting with Anthony Richardson, just with a sixth-round cost.

The Patriots blew their shot to have the first pick of the draft by beating the Bills 23-16, who were mostly playing backups with the No. 2 seed already clinched. Milton led the way, completing 22-of-29 passes for 241 yards and a touchdown, with a rushing touchdown too. The Patriots fired heard coach Jerod Mayo after the game, but it was a pretty big day for Milton in his career journey.

Jonathan Taylor: Taylor can rest in the offseason.

The Indianapolis Colts put a high priority on winning Sunday, a week after a terrible loss to the New York Giants eliminated them from the playoff race. Perhaps that’s because head coach Shane Steichen was worried about his future after the miserable loss. The Colts ran Taylor often, giving him 34 carries for 177 yards in an overtime 26-23 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars that might be the end of the Doug Pederson era.

Taylor had another strong season. He’ll be one of the building blocks for the Colts as they try to rebound from a disappointing season without a playoff berth.

LOSERS

San Francisco 49ers: The 49ers’ season might be summed up by promising rookie running back Isaac Guerendo’s day Sunday. Given the chance to start the finale, Guerendo went down on his second carry and had to be carted off with knee and ankle injuries.

All season the 49ers couldn’t outrun the injury bug. They didn’t have Brock Purdy in the finale, as Purdy rests after suffering an elbow injury last week, and although Joshua Dobbs played well the 49ers still lost 47-24 to the Arizona Cardinals. Nobody predicted the 49ers would be 6-11 this season. That wasn’t due entirely to injuries, but they played a big role in it.

The 49ers will regroup in the offseason. There are few teams that needed the season to end and the offseason to arrive more than San Francisco.

Miami Dolphins: The Dolphins might have gotten word that the Broncos weren’t going to get any challenge from the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday. Or perhaps they just anticipated the Broncos beating the Chiefs backups.

Either way, the Dolphins were technically alive in the playoff race on Sunday — they needed a win coupled with a Broncos loss to get in as the final wild-card team — but didn’t play like it. If this was Aaron Rodgers’ last game he went out on a pretty good note, throwing for four touchdowns including the 500th of his career in a 32-20 Jets win that at least is a positive finish in a nightmare season.

The Dolphins didn’t have Tua Tagovailoa, and they’ve been terrible in that situation this season unless they’re playing the Browns. The offense was punchless as usual without Tagovailoa, and they faded quietly into the offseason.

And it sounds like Tyreek Hill wants out of town.

Brian Callahan: Improvement is key for first-year head coaches. Improvement from the previous season, and improvement from the start of the season to the end.

Callahan hasn’t checked either box. The Tennessee Titans are worse than they were last season and they’re probably worse than they were for the first month or so this season. The Titans finish Callahan’s first season on a six-game losing streak, a skid that helped them nab the No. 1 pick in this NFL Draft. On Sunday they lost 23-14 to a Houston Texans team that was already locked into the No. 4 seed and started sitting starters in the first quarter. The Titans allowed backup running back Dameon Pierce to break a 92-yard touchdown run, a good way to sum up the effort and execution of the Titans late in the season.

There hasn’t been much speculation that Callahan won’t be back for a second season. Maybe there should be.

Christian Watson and maybe Jordan Love: The Green Bay Packers had to play their starters and try to win. The difference between the No. 6 seed and the No. 7, the latter of which would have to travel to Philadelphia on wild-card weekend, was massive.

But it was costly. Watson went down with a bad-looking, non-contact knee injury. Shortly after, Love left after having his arm hit, and didn’t return due to an elbow injury.

The Packers didn’t even get the win or the No. 6 seed. The Bears kicked a field goal as time expired, after the Packers took the lead with a FG in the final minute, for a 24-22 win that sends Chicago into the offseason on a good note. That field goal happened at the same time the Commanders scored with three seconds left to clinch themselves the No. 6 seed regardless of what happened in Green Bay.

The Packers are in the playoffs, but they have to play at the Eagles and have some injury concerns going into it. It wasn’t a positive day for them.

New York Giants: The Giants couldn’t beat Philadelphia Eagles third-string quarterback Tanner McKee, as the Eagles made 11 key players inactive with the No. 2 seed clinched. But the Giants won last week somehow to screw up getting the first pick of the NFL Draft.

There is little positive to take from the Giants’ miserable season. Malik Nabers’ strong rookie season perhaps, but not much else. The Giants finished the season on a bad note, which is how most of their season went. They lost 20-13 to an Eagles team whose touchdown scorers were Ainias Smith and EJ Jenkins, who only hardcore preseason watchers would recognize.

Now the Giants have decisions to make on general manager Joe Schoen and head coach Brian Daboll. If there was still a question about what to do with them, Sunday wasn’t a good final impression.