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Nfl Week 18 Schedule Flex Schedule Revealed After Overtime Sunday

Bonisiwe Shabane
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nfl week 18 schedule flex schedule revealed after overtime sunday

Every year, the NFL waits as long as possible before releasing the Week 18 schedule and that announcement finally came on Sunday night. The final week of the NFL season will kick off on Saturday with a doubleheader and then close out on Sunday night with the Ravens and Steelers battling in Pittsburgh. That will be the 272nd and final game of the 2025 season and the winner will clinch the AFC North title along with the final playoff spot in the AFC. The Steelers and Ravens met back in Week 14 with Pittsburgh topping Baltimore, 27-22. The biggest game of the weekend will arguably be happening on Saturday with the Seahawks hitting the road to face the 49ers in a massive NFC West showdown. There will be a lot on the line in that game with the winner taking home the NFC West title and the No.

1 overall seed in the NFC. That means the winner will get a bye in the opening round of the playoffs while the loser will be forced to hit the road for the wild card round. In the early game on Saturday, the Buccaneers will be hosting the Panthers in a game that could decide the NFC South. If the Panthers win, they'll clinch the division title. However, the same can't be said for Tampa Bay. If the Bucs win, they'll also need the Falcons to lose to the Saints on Sunday to clinch the division (A Bucs win combined with a Falcons win would create a three-way tie at...

The No. 1 seed in the AFC will be decided on Sunday. The Broncos will be hosting the Chargers at 4:25 p.m. ET on CBS and if they win that game, they'll clinch the top seed. However, if the Broncos lose, the Patriots could sneak in and steal the top seed by beating the Dolphins. The NFL on Sunday night announced its full Week 18 schedule for Saturday, Jan.

3, and Sunday, Jan. 4, and the regular season will come to a close in Pittsburgh. The Baltimore Ravens (8-8) and Pittsburgh Steelers (9-7) will square off for the AFC North title and the conference's No. 4 seed in the playoffs on Sunday Night Football. Week 18 action kicks off with a Saturday doubleheader, however, which features the Carolina Panthers at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at 4:30 p.m. ET on ESPN/ABC, and the Seattle Seahawks at the San Francisco 49ers at 8 p.m.

ET on ESPN/ABC. The playoffs are almost here and you won't want to miss a moment. Now you don't have to! With NFL+ Premium, watch every playoff game live on mobile, get NFL RedZone during the regular season, stream game replays, and more! And for a limited time, get 40% off an NFL+ annual plan. Offer ends 2/16/26.

Sign up today! Some how, some way, we are officially headed into the final week of the 2025 NFL season. While a majority of playoff spots—and seeds—have already been clinched, there are still a handful of division championships up for grabs heading into the final slate. Because of that, the league naturally waits to schedule Week 18’s matchup until the last possible second in order to, among other things, maximize its television audience. Before we get there, however, Week 17 across the league gave us plenty to write home about. For starters, the 49ers won an epic back-and-forth battle over the Bears on Sunday Night Football,Drake Maye kept himself in the MVP conversation thanks to a five-touchdown performance against the Jets, Malik Willis may...

Elsewhere, the Texans took care of business over the Chargers in L.A., Philip Rivers was emotional about his send off with the Colts, and Cardinals tight end Trey McBride made NFL history with his... And with that, we're on to Week 18. Here’s a complete look at the upcoming slate, with dates, times, and where to watch each contest. With just one game remaining in the 2025 NFL regular season and plenty of playoff seeding still up for grabs, the NFL schedule-makers flexed some doozies for the Saturday games and .css-8b3r8y{margin:0;font:inherit;font-style:italic;}Sunday Night Football. Below we'll take a look at the updated schedule and analyze the seeding ramifications for next week's matchups. .css-1582m2i{margin:0;font:inherit;font-weight:700;}.css-1yjtkls{margin:0;font:inherit;white-space:normal;word-break:break-word;}Schedule

Carolina Panthers at Tampa Bay Buccaneers (-3, per .css-wrcrjw{margin:0;font-size:1.6rem;-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;font-family:Proxima Nova,Proxima Nova Fallback Helvetica,Proxima Nova Fallback Arial;font-weight:700;font-style:normal;letter-spacing:0rem;line-height:1.92rem;color:var(--br--palette-foreground__link__secondary__default-mainChannel);font-size:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;white-space:normal;}.css-3nqh9c{-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;text-decoration-color:rgba(var(--br--palette-primary-mainChannel) / 0.4);margin:0;font-size:1.6rem;-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;font-family:Proxima Nova,Proxima Nova Fallback Helvetica,Proxima Nova Fallback Arial;font-weight:700;font-style:normal;letter-spacing:0rem;line-height:1.92rem;color:var(--br--palette-foreground__link__secondary__default-mainChannel);font-size:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;white-space:normal;}.css-3nqh9c:hover{text-decoration-color:inherit;}.css-lu48cp{margin:0;font:inherit;color:var(--br--palette-primary-main);-webkit-text-decoration:underline;text-decoration:underline;text-decoration-color:rgba(var(--br--palette-primary-mainChannel) / 0.4);margin:0;font-size:1.6rem;-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;font-family:Proxima Nova,Proxima Nova Fallback Helvetica,Proxima Nova Fallback Arial;font-weight:700;font-style:normal;letter-spacing:0rem;line-height:1.92rem;color:var(--br--palette-foreground__link__secondary__default-mainChannel);font-size:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;white-space:normal;}.css-lu48cp:hover{text-decoration-color:inherit;}DraftKings):... ET Seattle Seahawks (-1.5) at San Francisco 49ers: 8 p.m. ET Week 18 of the NFL will have a lot on the line as there will be playoff berths and seed jockeying during the regular-season finale. Heading into Sunday Night Football, there was no schedule for when teams will play.

The only known timing was the Saturday doubleheader on ESPN, a pair of Sunday doubleheaders on CBS and FOX, and then NBC hosting the final game of the regular season on Sunday Night Football. The NFL waited until the last possible moment to release the television schedule to ensure the best matchups. When Sunday Night Football’s overtime game came to an end, the schedule was finally revealed. The first two games revealed will be played on Saturday with ESPN/ABC’s doubleheader. The Cleveland Browns will travel to Baltimore to take on the Ravens at 4:30 p.m. ET.

That will be followed by the Cincinnati Bengals taking on the Pittsburgh Steelers on Saturday night at 8 p.m. ET. The Steelers have already secured a playoff berth, but they can still win the AFC North title if they win this Sunday and the Baltimore Ravens lose. If that happens, the Steelers would host the Los Angeles Chargers. If Pittsburgh doesn’t win the AFC North, they would be the fifth seed and go on the road in the playoffs against the No. 4 seed Houston Texans.

The NFL waited until after the Washinton Commanders’ overtime win over the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday to reveal the Week 18 schedule. There will be plenty on the line, playoff spots and positioning in games from Saturday-Sunday. The Sunday night game will pit the Vikings and Lions for the NFC North title and No. 1 overall seed in the conference. The Vikings are 14-2 and the Lions sit at 13-2 entering their Monday game at the San Francisco 49ers. The winner gets a bye and the loser will wind up playing a road playoff contest despite having more wins than the division winner it has to face.

Story originally appeared on Touchdown Wire The NFL wraps up the 2025 regular season with Week 18 on Saturday, January 3 and Sunday, January 4, 2026. Every game pits division rivals against each other one last time before the playoffs start. The NFL announced the full schedule on December 28, 2025, after Week 17 concluded. The league placed the most important games in prime-time spots based on playoff implications. Week 18 brings 16 division games spread across Saturday and Sunday.

Both days deliver high-stakes football as teams fight for playoff berths and seeding. The NFL picked these two games for Saturday based on playoff drama. Carolina and Tampa Bay battle for the NFC South title. Seattle and San Francisco meet for the NFC West championship and the NFC’s #1 seed. Sunday brings 14 games across three time windows. Six games start at 1:00 PM ET.

Seven games begin at 4:25 PM ET. One prime matchup airs on Sunday Night Football at 8:20 PM ET. (Information sourced from https://www.nfl.com/schedules/flexible-scheduling-procedures) Allows teams to play their way onto primetime In 2006, the NFL implemented "flexible scheduling," a procedure designed to promote quality matchups on Sunday nights and give surprise teams a chance to play their way onto primetime. For the 2025 season, flexible scheduling will include Sunday Night Football, Monday Night Football, and Thursday Night Football.

Please note that the NFL is continuously reviewing its scheduling procedures to ensure exciting and meaningful games are available for viewing by the largest number of fans and so further changes to flexible scheduling... Flexible scheduling is in effect during the following windows (the "Flex Scheduling Windows"):

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