Wow, I can't believe we're here. Week 17 is always certain to start my new year off on a down note. The season has passed without my ever really appreciating it, and the week 17 play never gives me what I want to make up for it. Most of the teams are eliminated, and most of the rest mail it in. There are only a few interesting games in the NFL's final week, with the glorious wall-to-wall Sundays ending with a whimper. It is an unfortunate downside to the sport I set my life by.
Anyway, here's the last chance this season to talk football with the SB Nation Dallas-Ft. Worth crew during the games. There are a few games between a team who's in and a pretty crappy opponent. One way or another, those games will likely be pretty lame. Pittsburgh and Baltimore play Cleveland and Cincinnati, respectively, and one of them will win the division; both, however, are already in. Indianapolis and Jacksonville take on the Titans and Texans, with the Colts in the driver's seat for the AFC South. One team will be out, but the Colts are favored to win their game and make the Jaguars' game meaningless.
The NFC is a little more interesting. The Bucs and Saints play an early game with meaning, as the Saints can still nab homefield advantage if they win and the Panthers can upset the Falcons. The life of the Tampa Bay fan, meanwhile, is going to be very stressful. Should they manage the upset of the Saints in New Orleans (a tall order, but then, the Saints haven't been great at home this year), they have to watch Green Bay and New York play late games, needing both to lose to get in. The Packers host the Bears, whose spot as the two seed is secure and thus have nothing to play for, and Green Bay is in with a win. The Giants need to beat the Redskins and the Bears to actually play a game.
Of course, the most significant game is Rams @ Seahawks to decide the division after all the other dust has settled. Which is a game between a seven and a six win team. This season is so forgettable it has probably burned itself in to my memory for that very fact.
Anyway, that's your viewers' guide. Click the jump and talk to us while you watch. Thank you to everyone over the course of the season who read and chatted with us, it's been fun!