Game result (Sunday night): The Falcons lost, so the Buccaneers are in the driver’s seat in the NFC South. An Atlanta win in Week 18 gets them into the postseason.
NFL playoff picture: What does Buccaneers-Panthers mean for NFC standings
The Panthers face the Bucs in Tampa Bay on Sunday. We break down what the game means for the NFL playoff picture.
Photo by Matt Kelley/Getty Images
Matt Warren is Associate Director of NFL coverage for SB Nation and previously covered the Buffalo Bills for Buffalo Rumblings for more than a decade. If it has to do with math, he covered it, from NFL playoff standings to salary cap analysis.
Game result: The Buccaneers slapped around the Panthers on Sunday, keeping their playoff hopes alive. They’ll watch the Falcons on Sunday night for more info on their playoff chances.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers do not control their own destiny to the postseason, but do control their own destiny to get to Week 18. Currently in a tie with the Atlanta Falcons for first place in the NFC South, Tampa is playing for their season in Week 17.
Tampa has the red carpet rolled out with games against the Carolina Panthers and New Orleans Saints in their final two weeks. They will need some help.
Buccaneers playoff picture
The Bucs and Falcons are tied atop the NFC South, but the Falcons hold the head-to-head tiebreaker. That means that Tampa needs to finish with a better record than Atlanta in order to secure their playoff spot.
Tampa also has an outside shot at the final wild card spot. At 10-7 in a tie with the Washington Commanders, Tampa would win the head-to-head tiebreaker and make the postseason, but they need to win two games and Washington needs to lose two games.
Tiebreaker implications
There aren’t any tiebreakers than Tampa is worried about right now since they lose the first tiebreaker to the Falcons. In the wild card, they have a head-to-head tiebreaker over the Washington Commanders and would win the NFC record tiebreaker against the Seahawks and Washington in a three-way tie at 10-7.
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