{"id":261804,"date":"2026-01-06T09:15:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-06T14:15:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/?p=261804"},"modified":"2026-01-05T18:58:57","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T23:58:57","slug":"nfl-biggest-sunday-takeaways-for-every-nfc-team-in-week-18","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2026\/01\/06\/nfl-biggest-sunday-takeaways-for-every-nfc-team-in-week-18\/","title":{"rendered":"NFL: Biggest Sunday Takeaways for Every NFC Team in Week 18"},"content":{"rendered":"

We have officially closed the 2025-2026 NFL regular season, but it was not without high drama to end the season with playoff spots and seeding position on the line. Coaches and general manager jobs are beginning to open up, while others have already been deemed safe. What a great season this was as we enter postseason play! Here is your Week 18 NFC wrap-up.<\/p>\n

Week 18 Sunday Key Takeaways from the NFC<\/h2>\n

NFC East<\/h3>\n
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Photo Credit: Eric Hartline-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Philadelphia Eagles<\/strong><\/a> – The Eagles decided to rest their key players instead of pursuing the second seed in the NFC. The backups almost pulled off a victory but ultimately fell short to the Commanders 24-17. Philly wound up with an 11-6 record as they pursue back-to-back Super Bowls.<\/p>\n

Dallas Cowboys<\/strong><\/a> – The Cowboys phoned it in as they lost to the Giants 34-17 and ended their season with a 7-9-1 record.<\/p>\n

New York Giants<\/strong><\/a> – Jaxson Dart finished his rookie season strong against the Cowboys, throwing for 230 yards and two touchdowns. The Giants finish at 4-13 as they seek a new head coach.<\/p>\n

Washington Commanders<\/strong><\/a> – After making the NFC title game last season, the Commanders suffered from injuries, which contributed to their 5-12 record. They did secure a win against the Eagles in their season finale.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

NFC North<\/h3>\n
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Photo Credit: Matt Marton-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Chicago Bears<\/strong><\/a> – The Bears fell to the Lions on a last-second field goal by a score of 19-16, almost losing the second seed, but with the Eagles\u2019 loss, Chicago stays in the second spot. Chicago had an awesome regular season with an 11-6 record.<\/p>\n

Green Bay Packers<\/strong><\/a> – Clayton Tune got the start for the Packers as they rested up for the playoffs. Green Bay ended its regular season with a 9-7-1 record.<\/p>\n

Detroit Lions<\/strong><\/a> – The Lions fought until the end, just like Dan Campbell likes, and it resulted in a last-second win over the Bears. It will be back to the drawing board for the 9-8 Lions.<\/p>\n

Minnesota Vikings<\/strong><\/a> – J.J. McCarthy was hurt during the Vikings’ 16-3 win over the Packers, raising durability concerns heading into the offseason. In other news for the Vikings, FB C.J. Ham scored the only touchdown in the game in what appeared to be his last game in the NFL. The Vikings finish their season at 9-8.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

NFC South<\/h3>\n
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Photo Credit: Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Carolina Panthers<\/strong><\/a> – The Panthers had an opportunity to claim the division with a win, but they fell short against the Bucs 16-14. Luckily, the Falcons beat the Saints, meaning Carolina has won the NFC South with an 8-9 record.<\/p>\n

Tampa Bay Buccaneers<\/strong><\/a> – The Bucs did their part by beating the Panthers, but they needed the Saints to beat the Falcons. Unfortunately, Tampa\u2019s season ends with an 8-9 record as well.<\/p>\n

New Orleans Saints<\/strong><\/a> – The Saints finished above expectations at 6-11 after the quarterback carousel they went on. Is Tyler Shough the guy moving forward?<\/p>\n

Atlanta Falcons<\/strong><\/a> – The Falcons ended their season with their fourth straight win, this time over the Saints, to finish at 8-9. Atlanta has questions to answer in their offseason regarding their coach and quarterback situation. Check that, Atlanta already answered one of those big questions<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

NFC West<\/h3>\n
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Photo Credit: Bob Donnan-Imagn Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Seattle Seahawks<\/strong><\/a> – The Seahawks went on the road with the division and home-field advantage on the line and left San Francisco with both things. It was an ugly 13-3 win, but Seattle finished the season 14-3.<\/p>\n

San Francisco 49ers<\/strong><\/a> – The Niners fell completely flat in a winner-take-all game against the Seahawks. San Fran mustered just three points as they finished 12-5 on the season and are heading to the playoffs.<\/p>\n

Arizona Cardinals<\/strong><\/a> – Michael Wilson\u2019s Linsanity run comes to a close with five catches for 99 yards and a touchdown in the loss to the Rams. The Cardinals have some decisions to make as they close yet another season with an awful record, this time being 3-14.<\/p>\n

Los Angeles Rams<\/strong><\/a> – Matthew Stafford put on one more four-touchdown performance to state his MVP case and led the Rams to a 37-20 victory over the Cardinals to lock up the five seed in the playoffs. The Rams boast a 12-5 record heading into the postseason.<\/p>\n

For more great football analysis, check out DrRoto.com<\/a>!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We have officially closed the 2025-2026 NFL regular season, but it was not without high drama to end the season with playoff spots and seeding position on the line. Coaches and general manager jobs are beginning to open up, while others have already been deemed safe. What a great season this was as we enter […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5637,"featured_media":261811,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[47,2320],"class_list":["post-261804","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nfl-news","tag-nfc","tag-nfl-schedule"],"modified_by":"Doug Henderson","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261804","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5637"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=261804"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261804\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":261815,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261804\/revisions\/261815"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/261811"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=261804"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=261804"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=261804"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}