4:25 PM EST

Washington Redskins vs. Dallas Cowboys

The Washington Redskins have not really had a great season. The biggest news to come from their year so far is that they fired former head coach Jay Gruden. Things just never seemed to click during his tenure and a constant rotation at quarterback ultimately doomed his tenure. The team turned the reins over to rookie quarterback Dwayne Haskins late in the season and he struggled at first but he looked great in the last two weeks, however, he will not play after suffering an injury in the team’s Week 16 game against the New York Giants. The other two promising young offensive pieces (Derrius Guice and Terry McLaurin) will also miss the season finale as they recover from injuries of their own. There are reasons for hope in Washington and with the report that Dan Snyder’s right-hand man Bruce Allen will no longer be in charge of football operations next season, there’s a chance that the team can finally get real football people calling the shots.

This game is of course of great importance for the Dallas Cowboys as they are still holding out hope that they can make it to the playoffs this year. They no longer control their own destiny after losing to the Philadelphia Eagles last week. Dallas has to win and then hope the Eagles are upset in their final game versus the New York Giants. Regardless of the outcome, it’s pretty safe to say that this is the final year of the Jason Garrett experience. The coach nearly made it through the decade with his dream job but mediocrity will only be tolerated for so long by Jerry Jones. With some high-profile names available look for Dallas to make a move quickly once their season comes to an end. Dak Prescott, Ezekiel Elliot, and Amari Cooper have been unable to carry this team to the heights that were expected of them before the season.

PREDICTION: COWBOYS 35 , Redskins 20

Oakland Raiders vs. Denver Broncos

The Oakland Raiders still have an outside chance of making it into the playoffs this week. They just need EVERYTHING to go right basically. First, the Raiders will need to defeat the Denver Broncos. Next, they would need the Titans, Steelers, and Jaguars all to lose their games and that would allow for Oakland to make it in based on their strength of victory. Now, I don’t think the team has ever been that lucky in franchise history and I feel it would be unlikely that their luck changes today, especially since this is the same group that found a way to lose the team’s final game in the Bay Area. Jon Gruden has helped the team look more competent in his second season back on the sidelines but they definitely don’t look playoff-worthy.

In the Mile High City, the Denver Broncos have been on a roller coaster of a ride in Vic Fangio’s first season as the head coach. Through the first four weeks of the 2019 season, Denver was 0-4 and had lost by a total of 21 points in those contests. Two of those defeats came on last-second field goals. Then the team lost Joe Flacco in the final game of October and Brandon Allen went 1-2 as his replacement before they gave their rookie second-round pick, Drew Lock and he’s gone 3-1 in his first four starts. John Elway has searched for years for a quarterback to take the torch after they were able to get all they could out of Peyton Manning at the end of his career. If Lock is the guy then next season could get interesting for the Broncos.

PREDICTION: BRONCOS 21 , Raiders 17

Arizona Cardinals vs. Los Angeles Rams

Despite the snickering at the hire when it first was made, Kliff Kingsbury rise from being fired by Texas Tech to nearly taking the offensive coordinator position at Southern California to head coach of the Arizona Cardinals hasn’t been a complete dumpster fire this year. Much of that is thanks to the fact that the team trusted its gut and selected Kyler Murray at the top of the 2019 NFL Draft. Murray has been great in his first season and there still are areas where he can improve going forward. The biggest development though happened at the running back position where Kenyan Drake has usurped David Johnson as the team’s starting running back even though he was acquired at the trade deadline this year. A year after having questions about who should be their quarterback of the future the same can now be accredited to the running back spot.

The Los Angeles Rams are the latest teams to fall victim to the Super Bowl hangover. After running through the NFC a year ago with relative ease, the team was not able to capture that same magic this season. Sean McVay’s offense wasn’t able to obliterate opponents as easily and that may have something to do with the fact that they took a different approach with how they used Todd Gurley over the duration of the season. Jared Goff got paid big money prior to the start of the season but he was unable to match his production from a season ago as well. The defense underwent a makeover in the secondary with the team losing Aquib Talib and Marcus Peters but gaining Jalen Ramsey. Yet, it was not as dominant in the end. Aaron Donald was still Aaron Donald but it takes more than just one player to be a Super Bowl contender.

PREDICTION: CARDINALS 18 , Rams 13

Philadelphia Eagles vs. New York Giants

The Philadelphia Eagles were considered one of the most talented teams in the NFL when the season started nearly four months ago. Yet, injuries have depleted most of that depth to the point where they are only rostering three wide receivers week-by-week. In the midst of that, the team has been able to do just enough to get back to the top of the NFC East standings. The path to the playoffs is simple, win and get in. For most of the season, it looked like there would be no chance that the Eagles could make it into the postseason and now they are a win away from getting back for the third straight season. Carson Wentz has been able to negotiate not having several of his reliable weapons and the emergence of rookie running back Miles Sanders along with the dual-threat tight end combination of Zach Ertz and Dallas Goedert has allowed the offense to be just good enough to get by when they were needed the most.

In New York, the Giants have officially seen the end of the Eli Manning era. He was benched quickly for rookie Daniel Jones who didn’t relinquish the job until an ankle sprain forced him to miss two weeks of action (where Manning went 1-1 to secure a perfectly even 118-118 record as a starter). The ankle injury suffered by Saquon Barkley was an even bigger detriment to the team’s hopes of having a better than expected season. Barkley missed just three games but it wasn’t until the team’s final two games that he began to look like himself again. The Giants will need to add some more upper-end talent to the defensive end if they are going to once again attempt to compete for division titles in the future.

PREDICTION: EAGLES 24 , Giants 15

Indianapolis Colts vs. Jacksonville Jaguars

The Indianapolis Colts were a good story at the start of the season. Not a lot was expected of them when Andrew Luck shockingly retired during the preseason but Jacoby Brissett was able to step in early and lead the group to a 5-2 start. However, the good times weren’t meant to last long and as the season comes to a close they need a win today to finish 8-8 on the season. Like many teams who have not been able to keep their strong play a constant on the season, injuries were a big part of the reason that the play dropped off for this group down the stretch. Indianapolis had the chance to determine their own outcome but they suffered a few bad losses and find themselves on the outside looking in for another season.

The story of the Jacksonville Jaguars season has been the play of their quarterbacks. They spent a lot of money to bring Nick Foles in and he was looking good for the first quarter of the team’s opening game before suffering an injury on his first touchdown pass with his new team. He was replaced by rookie sixth-rounder, Gardner Minshew who took Duval County and the NFL world by storm with his moxie and mustache. The Jaguars were able to get by for a few weeks but eventually Minshew Magic wore off and Foles came back from his injury and was given the starting job once again. However, it was too little too late and Foles was unable to play the part of a former Super Bowl MVP for the team.

PREDICTION: COLTS 28 , Jaguars 24

Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Baltimore Ravens

The Pittsburgh Steelers were once thought to be left for dead in a football sense. Antonio Brown and Le’Veon Bell were on other teams and Ben Roethlisberger was out with an injury and the team’s record was 1-4. Since then, the team has gone 7-3 and now they just need a win today and a loss by the Tennessee Titans to secure their spot into the playoffs. Mason Rudolph is out with an injury and Devlin “Duck” Hodges will no longer have to look over his shoulder if he plays poorly, this team, this game is now 100 percent his going forward. Mike Tomlin has a real shot at taking home Coach of the Year honors at the end of the season regardless of what happens in this final game.

The Baltimore Ravens have secured their spot as the top seed in the AFC already and instead of trying to make their record even better, they are opting to rest most of their starters and enter the postseason healthy. Lamar Jackson and John Harbaugh have morphed this team into something very special and it will be curious to see if they can remain as dominant throughout the playoffs as they were during the regular season this year. Robert Griffin III will get the start in Jackson’s absence and from a nostalgia standpoint, it will be nice to see if he still has anything left in the tank as there are several teams out there that could use an upgrade at quarterback next season. I think the defense comes to play and does enough to get them the win here.

PREDICTION: RAVENS 13 , Steelers 9

Tennesee Titans vs. Houston Texans

The Tennessee Titans looked on their way to another unnoticed 8-8 or 7-9 finish on the year before Mike Vrabel made the switch and inserted Ryan Tannehill as the team’s starter in place of Marcus Mariota. Tannehill wore out his welcome in Miami but he has looked like a completely different player. Rookie wide receiver AJ Brown has exploded in the second half of the season and looks to be a big part of the team’s future offensively. An even bigger part both literally and figuratively is running back Derrick Henry. He has been unstoppable as the Titans have worked their way back into playoff positioning in the final weeks of the season. On defense, this team plays much as their head coach did during his time with the Patriots. They are aggressive and nasty and make plays all over the field. They’ll likely face several backups today but if they maintain their same fierce approach they should win and be in the playoffs.

The Houston Texans already have their spot secured and after the events of the afternoon games, they cannot change their spot and are locked into the fourth seed in the AFC playoffs and will face the Buffalo Bills. All of that stands as reasons why players like Deshaun Watson, DeAndre Hopkins and others will likely not suit up at all in this game. They would much rather enter the Wild Card round with their team as healthy as possible instead of keeping a in-division team out of the playoffs by winning what would ultimately amount to a useless game in the long run. Bill O’Brien, like Vrabel, made a name for himself in New England so it’s no surprise that he’s playing it safe in this scenario. We’ll know more about this team when the postseason starts next weekend.

PREDICTION: TITANS 27 , Texans 17

1:00 PM EST

Miami Dolphins vs. New England Patriots

The New England Patriots have wrapped up another AFC East title and look to end the regular season off riding high. After hitting a rough patch in their schedule, getting a much-needed victory over the Buffalo Bills last Saturday was huge. Now, a familiar face—former coach Brian Flores—comes back home but his Dolphins team lacks the talent to really test Tom Brady and Bill Belichick. Just like last year, the Patriots have discovered their run game at the end of the season, another good performance today could see them attempt to repeat the strategy that helped them win the Super Bowl a season ago.

Miami though has been a much tougher team than projected. After starting the year 0-7, the Dolphins have gone 4-4 in their last eight games. The tank job never came to fruition but the impressive finish to the year has helped to cement Flores’ status as an up-and-coming coaching talent in the NFL. Surely the coaching staff that features other former Patriot employees would love to go into Foxboro and steal a win but unless Belichick opts to rest a majority of his starters the gap between these two teams is too wide to be overcome on just pride alone.

PREDICTION: PATRIOTS 30 , Dolphins 17

New York Jets vs. Buffalo Bills

No one expected this from the Buffalo Bills this year. Thanks to some small changes to the offense, Josh Allen has been able to quiet a lot of his doubters and detractors with much-improved play in his sophomore season in the NFL. Allen still makes some poor decisions and could get better at avoiding costly turnovers but he’s still young and he’s shown that he’s good enough as is to be successful on the field. The true strength of this team is a defense that is solid at all three levels. Tre’Davious White is a true shutdown corner and their front seven creates pressure on opposing quarterbacks when the team needs it most.

Many felt that the New York Jets were likelier to put together a season like Buffalo and truly give the Patriots a run for their money in the AFC East. Things got sidetracked early when Sam Darnold contracted mononucleosis and was forced to miss an extended period of time. Without Darnold, teams were able to key in on stopping the team’s big free-agent acquisition, Le’Veon Bell. Bell was never able to find a rhythm and there were rumors that he could possibly be traded before the trade deadline (similar rumors are spreading about an offseason move from the Jets on Bell). Buffalo’s defense is going to prove too tough for New York in this game.

PREDICTION: BILLS 24 , Jets 13

Cleveland Browns vs. Cincinnati Bengals 

What a season it has been for the Cleveland Browns.  First, they won the offseason in resounding fashion. They retained Baker Mayfield’s preferred choice as their new head coach. They acquired Odell Beckham Jr. from the New York Giants and signed Kareem Hunt. Yet, the offseason victories didn’t result in on-the-field wins for this group this season. The Browns will once again finish with a losing record. Changes could be coming once more for this team but only time will tell.

If you are a Cincinnati Bengals fan I advise you not to watch this game. Not because it’s going to be a blowout or anything of that nature but that it would be much better time spent if Bengals fans re-watched the jaw-dropping display LSU quarterback Joe Burrow put together in the first half of the College Football Playoff National Semifinal. Cincinnati is locked into place for the number one pick in the 2020 NFL Draft. Following the head-scratching way they handled Andy Dalton this year, it’s clear that Burrow is the better move at the top of the draft.

PREDICTION: BROWNS 35 , Bengals 21

Green Bay Packers vs. Detroit Lions

If Aaron Rodgers has an MVP-caliber season does it make a sound? Kidding, but the face of the franchise for the Green Bay Packers might have put together one of his best years to date. The numbers aren’t as gaudy as others but he and Matt LaFleur have been able to orchestrate one of the league’s most efficient offenses this season. The ability of Aaron Jones can’t be overlooked here either as he’s been great as a runner and a pass-catcher out of the backfield. Green Bay still has a chance of securing a first-round bye so there likely won’t be much resting from their best players today.

The Detroit Lions announced that Matt Patricia and Bob Quinn would both be coming back in their current roles for the 2020 NFL season. When the franchise let Jim Caldwell go it was because they thought they needed someone new to take them to the next level. Two seasons in and Patricia is yet to match a single-season win total like Caldwell produced in his final year with the team. While a win today would be great and build momentum for the future, with Matthew Stafford out there really isn’t that much of a chance that the underdogs pull off the upset today.

PREDICTION: PACKERS 28 , Lions 10

Los Angeles Chargers vs. Kansas City Chiefs

The Los Angeles Chargers have had their season derailed by injuries and late-game scenarios that didn’t play out in their favor. Two things that have become synonymous with the franchise of late. By the time their studs returned to the field healthy they had already dug themselves too deep of a hole to climb out of. The only thing left for them this year is to play spoiler to the Kansas City Chiefs’ attempt to climb higher in the playoff standings. Knocking a fellow member of the AFC West down the standings would be a nice way to close out an utterly forgettable year for the Chargers.

With a win and a New England loss, the Chiefs would jump to the second seed in the AFC and receive a first-round bye in the playoffs. If Kansas City loses and the Houston Texans defeat the Tennessee Titans then they drop down to fourth and get a date with the Bills (who are probably the team to avoid in the Wild Card round). An injury to Patrick Mahomes almost made this a lost season for Kanas City but they kept their head above water while he was out and since he’s returned they looked like one of the best teams in the league. We all know how amazing Mahomes and head coach Andy Reid are together offensively but bringing in Steve Spagnuolo as the defensive coordinator and signing Tyrann Mathieu as a free agent have really helped this defense to turn the corner.

PREDICTION: CHIEFS 27 , Chargers 14

Chicago Bears vs. Minnesota Vikings

The Chicago Bears looked like a team ready to take over as the cream of the crop in the NFC North last year. Matt Nagy’s offense has unlocked a version of Mitchell Trubisky that many didn’t think was possible and the team had constructed a defense that could compete with any opponent. Khalil Mack played out of his mind and rookie linebacker Rowan Smith was tremendous for them. What a difference a year makes. Nagy and Trubisky have seemingly lost their magic but the defense remains stout. In the end, the team was too up-and-down on a weekly basis to repeat the success it had last year.

Meanwhile, the Minnesota Vikings overhauled their entire offense and committed to becoming a run-first team. Wins came early but cohesion did not. Wide receivers Adam Thielen and Stefon Diggs were frustrated by the lack of opportunities being given to them. Eventually, things started to click. Dalvin Cook was still a menace and the Vikings’ attack went primarily through him but Kirk Cousins was able to develop a better rapport with his big-name receivers and Minnesota gave the Packers all they could handle before last week’s Monday Night Football lost gave Green Bay the division title. As they prepare for the postseason expect them to take it easy today opening the door for Chicago to get a win.

PREDICTION: BEARS 17 , Vikings 10

Atlanta Falcons vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers

The Atlanta Falcons are arguably the most disappointing team this year. Last season injuries to critical components of their defense made it nearly impossible for them to look anything like the team that made it to the Super Bowl in 2017. However, this time around they managed to always get in their own way. Surprisingly, the mistakes and miscues weren’t deemed bad enough for Dan Quinn to lose his job. Instead, Arthur Blank is going to give him another chance and only time will tell if that was a good or bad choice.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are on the brink of history, if Jameis Winston throws two more interceptions he’ll be the first player in NFL history to throw 30 touchdowns and 30 interceptions in the same season. Obviously, this is a cause we all can get behind and given the way he’s played so far this year this historical feat could be accomplished in Tampa’s first two possessions of the game. With the playoffs out of the picture and both Pro Bowl wide receivers (Mike Evans and Chris Godwin) out for this game, the potential 30/30 season is really the only reason to pay attention to what happens in the Buccaneers game today. With that said, we likely get a great game from Winston and Tampa Bay ends year one of the Bruce Arians era at .500.

PREDICTION: BUCCANEERS 31 , Falcons 28

New Orleans Saints vs. Carolina Panthers 

The New Orleans Saints could potentially clinch the number one seed in the NFC still and that means they’ll likely be playing their best for the majority of this game unless they jump out to a big enough lead. Drew Brees (most career passing yards, most career passing touchdowns) and Michael Thomas (most receptions in a season) will look to increase their record-breaking seasons this week too. New Orleans would love nothing more than for the NFC to run through the Superdome—they’ll need help in other games to ensure that happens. The Saints have looked the part of Super Bowl contender all season long (even when Brees was on the sidelines with his thumb injury).

For the Carolina Panthers, a year in which they were thought to have a shot at the playoffs and potentially a division title quickly had the rug pulled from underneath them when Cam Newton could no longer play through a Lisfranc injury. Kyle Allen looked the part of a potential replacement but ultimately faltered as the year continued. Last week, rookie quarterback Will Grier was given a shot and he played like a rookie. It is unknown if Newton will be brought back and it is unknown at the moment who will be their head coach as Ron Rivera was fired during the season. One thing is for certain, Christian McCaffrey is a BAD man! However, he does not play defense (yet) and the Saints should be able to expose Carolina’s weaknesses on that side of the ball.

PREDICTION: SAINTS 30 , Panthers 21