Week 18 was filled with games that didn’t matter. But the ones that did helped shine a light on this winter’s playoff field.
With all due respect to Carson Wentz’s comeback efforts over Sam Darnold’s San Francisco 49ers — another winning veteran quarterback the New York Jets could have signed, by the way — the real action was in the games between teams who still had something to play for. We saw the Green Bay Packers continue to ride their sine wave of a season, cresting to a new high behind Jordan Love. We saw the Jacksonville Jaguars and Philadelphia Eagles continue their death spirals, costing the Jaguars their playoff hopes and pushing Philly into a Wild Card road trip.
So what were the best — and, notably, worst — things about the final week of the 2023 NFL regular season? Let’s take a closer look.