Tampa Bay 16, Carolina 14 - The Panthers and Buccaneers really cannot seem to make up their mind about who wins this division. I had mistakenly assumed that the winner of this game would win the NFC South. Indeed, Carolina had a chance to win the division outright with a win. But with a loss - and they lost - the Bucs temporarily moved ahead in the NFC South race. Both teams finish the regular season with identical 8-9 records. And yet, both teams now will sit and watch what happens in the Saints-Falcons game now. Yes, the Saints and Falcons both played spoilers for playoff teams in recent weeks, with the Saints having done it in consecutive games against both of these teams. Both the Saints and Falcons are on winning streaks, and the winner of this game between teams not going to the playoffs will, ironically, somehow decide who wins the NFC South. If the Saints win, the Bucs win the NFC South. If the Falcons win, the Panthers take the NFC South. Got all that? My pick: Inaccurate
Seattle 13, San Francisco 3 - Seattle has one of the toughest defenses in the league, which was no secret going in. But they looked incredible solid in this game, and made believers out of me. Holding the talented 49ers offense to just a field goal in a game as big as this? Now that was impressive. Seattle came out swinging on offense, scoring a touchdown in the first quarter, then adding a field goal in the second to build up to a 10-0 lead. San Francisco scored a field goal - their only points in this game - late in the second quarter. Then Seattle added a safety net field goal in the fourth quarter. Their defense took care of the rest, holding the Niners to just 173 total yards and nine first downs on offense. Meanwhile, the Seahawks offense produced 361 yards and 23 first downs while holding the ball for almost 38 minutes. An impressive performance in the clutch. With the win, the Seahawks finish this regular season with a 14-3 record and clinch the NFC West title and the number one overall seed in the NFC, the first time since the 2014 season, which also happened to be the last time that they went to the Super Bowl. For the 49ers, the loss drops them to 12-5, and they have to wait to see what happens in the Rams -Cardinals game later today to see what seed they will be, and whether they go to either Carolina or Tampa Bay as the fifth seed, or either to Chicago or Philadelphia as the sixth overall seed. My pick: Inaccurate
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