Our NFL Week 18 winners and losers are now live with a look at what happened during the final week of regular-season action.
Saturday night saw C.J. Stroud lead the upstart Houston Texans to a huge win over the Indianapolis Colts to take the AFC South.
Sunday’s action included Jordan Love and the Green Bay Packers punching their ticket to the NFC Playoffs with a win over the Chicago Bears. Meanwhile, the Buffalo Bills pulled off a dramatic win to clinch the AFC East.
On the other side of the ledger, the Jacksonville Jaguars and Philadelphia Eagles put up duds. Jacksonville’s loss eliminated the team from playoff contention. Meanwhile, Philadelphia lost for the fifth time in six games to conclude the regular season.
These are among our NFL Week 18 winners and losers.
Related: NFL Playoff and Super Bowl predictions
Winner: C.J. Stroud, DeMeco Ryans lead Houston Texans to division title
The Houston Texans had won a combined 11 games in the three seasons leading up to the 2023 campaign. They were seen as a bottom feeder throughout the league. Hiring DeMeco Ryans away from the San Francisco 49ers seemed to change the culture. Selecting C.J. Stroud No. 2 overall in the 2023 NFL Draft gave Houston fans some hope.
But no one could have envisioned this team winning 10 games and coming away with the AFC South title with a rookie quarterback and first-year head coach.
That is where we are after Saturday night’s huge road win over the Indianapolis Colts. Playing in a won-or-go-home scenario, Stroud completed 20-of-26 passes for 264 yards with two touchdowns and zero interceptions.
He led the team down the field on a 73-yard touchdown-scoring drive to take a 23-17 lead. Houston’s defense then held to put this one away. What an amazing moment for this upstart Texans team to open NFL Week 18.
Related: NFL Week 18 power rankings
Loser: Jacksonville Jaguars pull off a dud during NFL Week 18
Doug Pederson and the Jaguars knew what was on the line NFL Week 18 against the last-place Tennessee Titans. A win would give Jacksonville the NFC South title. A loss would have the team missing out on the playoffs after starting the season with a 6-2 record.
About that? The Jaguars put up an absolute dud of a performance in a 28-20 loss to the Titans. Trevor Lawrence threw two interceptions and was off pretty much all game. Meanwhile, Jacksonville’s defense allowed Derrick Henry to run roughshod with 153 yards on 19 rush attempts. What an utterly humiliating performance here.
Winner: Mike Tomlin just continues to get it done
The Pittsburgh Steelers knew that they needed to win Saturday in order to have a chance to make the playoffs. Despite the division-rival Baltimore Ravens playing their backups, this was a game. Pittsburgh ended up coming out on top by the score of 17-10 in a well-played game between the two AFC North foes.
Mason Rudolph was outstanding again, completing 18-of-20 passes for 152 yards with a touchdown. Najee Harris did his thing with 112 yards on the ground. The end result was Pittsburgh’s 10th win of the season and pretty much the best coaching job Tomlin has done since he joined the Steelers back in 2007. By virtue of the Jacksonville Jaguars’ loss, Pittsburgh also clinched a playoff spot. Just amazing stuff.
Related: NFL Week 18 defense rankings
Loser: Carolina Panthers shutout for second consecutive game
Carolina ends the 2023 NFL season with a 2-15 record. As embarrassing as that might sound, being shutout in the final two games of the season is even more pathetic.
That’s what we saw during Sunday’s 9-0 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Rookie No. 1 pick Bryce Young completed his initial season by connecting on 11-of-18 passes for just 68 net passing yards. Nothing good came from the Panthers’ 2023 season, leading to some major question marks heading into the offseason for the dowtrodden organization.
Winner: Buffalo Bills come up clutch
Buffalo ended the regular season winning five consecutive games to move from the 11th seed to the No. 2 spot in the AFC Playoffs. Its most-recent win was something else. The Bills turned the ball over three times in the red zone as they found themselves down 14-7 heading into the fourth quarter against Miami.
Deonte Harty’s 95-yard punt return for a touchdown evened the game up. It was an absolutely spectacular play from the special teams ace.
Josh Allen responded by leading the Bills on a 74-yard touchdown drive to take a 21-14 lead and clinch the AFC East title for a fourth consecutive season. Just amazing stuff.
Loser: Bill Belichick tenure in New England seemingly ends with dud
We had given this six-time Super Bowl champion head coach credit for having his otherwise bad Patriots team playing inspired football. That did not continue at home against the New York Jets during NFL Week 18.
New England put up all of 119 total yards. Quarterback Bailey Zappe completed 12-of-30 passes for 31 net passing yards with zero touchdowns and two interceptions in what might have been the worst performance from a Patriots signal caller in franchise history.
The end result was an ugly 17-3 loss and New England finishing up the season with a 4-13 record. It’s the team’s worst mark since all the way back in 1992. And if this is the end of the Belichick tenure in New England, what a horrible way to go out.
Related: NFL Week 18 QB rankings
Winner: Antonio Pierce, Las Vegas Raiders end season on a high note
We have absolutely no idea whether Pierce will be the Raiders’ full-time head coach moving forward. What we do know is that he had the team playing inspired football after replacing the fired Josh McDaniels as the Silver and Black’s head coach.
That came out in droves during an otherwise meaningless home game against the division-rival Denver Broncos during NFL Week 18. Rookie quarterback Aidan O’Connell completed 20-of-31 passes for 244 yards with two touchdowns in the 27-14 win. Zamir White added 112 yards on the ground. Meanwhile, Vegas’ suddenly stingy defense yielded a mere 48 rushing yards. The end result was Pierce winning his fifth game in nine tries as the Raiders’ interim head coach. He’s made the decision by Mark Davis pretty difficult.
Loser: Philadelphia Eagles head into playoffs on a low note
Philadelphia headed into NFL Week 18 with an outside shot of earning the NFC East title. It needed to beat the New York Giants and watch the Washington Commanders pull off an upset win over the Dallas Cowboys. Neither happened.
Nick Sirianni’s squad was an unmitigated disaster in Jersey. The team fell down 24-0 with both Jalen Hurts and A.J. Brown going down to injury. It was a completely uninspiring effort as Philadelphia lost its fifth game in six tries heading into the NFL Playoffs. It now has to take on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on the road next weekend. Can anyone have much confidence in the Eagles coming out on top at this point?
Winner: Green Bay Packers head into NFL Playoffs on a roll
What Jordan Love has done for the Packers recently is just insane. The young quarterback headed into NFL Week 18 having accounted for 18 total touchdowns and just one interception over the past seven games. He was even better in a must win against the Chicago Bears on Sunday, completing 27-of-32 passes for 316 yards with two touchdowns and zero interceptions.
It helped lead Green Bay to a 17-9 win and a spot in the NFL Playoffs. At this point, the Dallas Cowboys have to be a bit concerned heading into the NFL Wild Card Playoffs in Big D next week. Green Bay is playing sensational football right now.
Loser: Tua Tagovailoa comes up small in NFL Week 18
For a while this season, the Miami Dolphins looked like legitimate Super Bowl favorites in the AFC. Well, that came crashing down Sunday night with the AFC East title on the line in South Beach.
Miami found itself up 14-7 heading into the fourth quarter, only to see itself outscored by a 14-0 margin in the fourth quarter.
For his part, Tua Tagovailoa threw two interceptiosn in yet another pedestrian performance. That included the game-ending interception late in the fourth quarter. It now has the Dolphins facing the difficult task of going into Arrowhead and taking on the defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs next week.