The waning days of the calendar year are famously aimless. You are unsure whether it’s Tuesday or the weekend. You eat the same food you ate yesterday. You don’t know whether you should do something with your time, or whether there is even anything to do.

So, too, with the waning days of the NFL season. There’s football on, but there has been football on every day for the past two weeks. Your phone buzzes to let you know that a player on your fantasy team has scored a touchdown, even though you’ve been eliminated. You are unsure whether you should root for your favorite NFL team to win, or whether it would even benefit them to lose.

Personally, I love it. Nothing like a little meaninglessness to remind you to find joy in the moments that are actually meaningful!

– Rodger Sherman

Giants 34, Raiders 10

A lot of boring, important stuff happened Sunday — the playoff picture, the race for the #1 seeds, the fantasy championships, yada yada yada. But true ball-knowers were locked in on Giants-Raiders: TANK BOWL 2025!

IN THE BLUE CORNER, with a record of two wins and 13 losses, riding a nine game losing streak … THE NEW YORK GIANTS!

IN THE BLACK CORNER, ALSO with a record of two wins and 13 losses, ALSO riding a nine-game losing streak … THE LAS VEGAS RAIDERS!

The matchup was the first between two distinctly bad teams this late in the season since 2014, when the 2-12 Titans met the 2-12 Jaguars in perhaps the most Thursday Night Football game of all time. However, that Titans-Jags bout didn’t have the same stakes as Tank Bowl 2025. Those two teams were part of a three-way tie for the worst record in the NFL, and would both get edged out for the #1 pick by the Buccaneers, who drafted Jameis Winston.

Meanwhile, the Raiders and Giants were the lone contenders for last place, behind the Titans, Browns, Jets, and other usual suspects. This was a legendary suckfest, the true bottom of the barrel beneath all the other grime and gunk. A worst-on-worst battle that could satiate the sickest sicko.

The Giants were unprepared for how prepared the Raiders were to lose this game. Vegas benched its two best players, Maxx Crosby and Brock Bowers (the ostensible reason was lingering injuries that apparently got worse in between Week 16 and Week 17), and showed up ready to get rocked. No gas, all brakes.

This type of win is becoming a trend for the Giants. For the third time in the last seven seasons, they needlessly won a game while staring down the #1 pick. In 2024, they were also 2-13 heading into Week 17, but somehow beat the playoff-hopeful Colts, 45-33. (They also got a kickoff return TD in that game. The Giants have two kickoff return TDs in the past decade, and they’ve both come in Week 17 wins with a 2-13 record.) And in 2019, the Giants started 2-11, but won back-to-back games in Weeks 14 and 15 to end up with the fourth-overall pick and offensive tackle Andrew Thomas instead of Joe Burrow.

But really, you have to hand it to the Raiders, who have fully earned the distinguished title of Worst Team in the League. They’re dead last in points and yards, and they finished dead last in every conceivable rushing category, despite using the sixth pick in the draft on stud running back Ashton Jeanty.

Now you have to wonder: Is there anybody in this draft class that can fix a team this bad? Is there any reason to trust the nascent Pete Carroll regime, which took over a flailing franchise and made it worse? I’m skeptical on both counts. But maybe a team this efficient at being bad can find a way to apply their tanking skill to winning games.

Browns 13, Steelers 6

Myles Garrett entered Sunday with 22.5 sacks on the season, needing just one sack to break the NFL’s all-time record, held jointly with Michael Strahan. (Or to tie the unofficial sack record, set by Al Baker. Big fan of the NFL’s unofficial sack record!) But the Steelers held Garrett sackless for the second time this season, keeping him from breaking all of Aaron Rodgers’ bones and from making history. Mission accomplished, right?

Not quite. As much as any Browns game this season, Cleveland’s win on Sunday illustrated Garrett’s immense impact. Per ESPN’s Ben Solak, the Steelers chipped Garrett with a second blocker on 41 percent of their dropbacks, the eighth-highest rate any edge rusher has faced in any game all season (and third-highest rate faced by Garrett.) They limited their available options on nearly half of their offensive snaps to keep one guy from ruining their day.

You can see the Steelers chip Garrett on their last-ditch attempt at tying the game. Kenneth Gainwell hangs around to disturb Garrett, then runs his route. By the time Gainwell comes open, Aaron Rodgers has already decided to throw to Marquez Valdes-Scantling (because he is Aaron Rodgers, and he will always decide to throw to Marquez Valdes-Scantling).

Even the Steelers’ non-chip plays were clearly designed to keep Garrett away from Rodgers, as Rodgers repeatedly rolled away from Garrett’s side of the field and got rid of the ball almost instantly.

The result? A season-low six points for Pittsburgh, and a truly devastating loss. With a win over the 3-13 Browns, the Steelers could have clinched the AFC North. Instead they’ll play a do-or-die game against the Ravens next weekend in the final game of the NFL regular season.

After the game, there was speculation that the Steelers had focused on preventing Garrett from setting the record rather than actually winning the game. (Some of that speculation came from Garrett himself.) The Steelers insisted that their offensive gameplan was standard procedure against Garrett, and I believe them! I definitely believe them, for sure. I am repeatedly stating here that I believe them. I get it. The Steelers would like Aaron Rodgers to remain alive, and if they didn’t sell out to stop Garrett, he’d crack Rodgers like an egg.

HOWEVER, you do have to wonder if the Steelers were thinking about T.J. Watt and his spot (for now) tied for the season sack record … or if Rodgers had been reminded of how his Packers predecessor Brett Favre was roasted for letting Strahan set the sack record in 2001:

I’d bet on Garrett setting the record next week against the Bengals, against whom he had two sacks in September. But no matter what happens, he’s had one of the best seasons any edge rusher has ever had. Every team that faces Cleveland warps their offense to stop Garrett (not all of them as dramatically as the Steelers, but certainly to some extent) and he has still managed one of the most productive seasons in the history of the sport. Imagine if he’d done it on a team that could score points!

Saints 34, Titans 26

I thought the New Orleans Saints were fools. (Common opinion, tbh.)

With the 40th pick in 2025 NFL Draft, they picked 25-year-old Tyler Shough. Due to a series of injuries, Shough played seven years of college football. (SEVEN.) While he finished on a high note at Louisville, age was a clear concern in his draft profile. I mean, the man is married and has two bachelor’s degrees and a master’s. (I think he may have gotten a fourth degree at Louisville, but his various bios are unclear.) Shough is older than fifth-year quarterback Trevor Lawrence! He’s older than Trey Lance, who is on his third NFL team and will probably never start again! He’s as old as Zach Wilson, who … same!

The Saints began the season with Spencer Rattler at QB, delaying the start of Shough’s much-delayed pro career past his 26th birthday. In November, the Saints finally turned to him, and I thought to myself, “What’s the point of this old rookie unless he produces right away?”

Sure enough: He produced right away. On Sunday, he threw for 333 yards and two touchdowns in New Orleans’ fourth straight win:

After starting the season 1-7, the Saints are 5-3 with Shough at QB. Their current win streak is their longest since 2020, when Sean Payton was the head coach, and when Shough was barely old enough to drink. Shough has posted two of the three 300-yard games by rookie QBs in 2025, and four of the top six passing performances.

Bizarrely, Shough is now the favorite to win the NFL’s Offensive Rookie of the Year award, despite not starting until November. I’d probably vote for Shough, but it would be one of the oddest Rookie of the Year selections of all time. (The weirdest ever: 1992, when the AP gave the award to Carl Pickens, who had 326 receiving yards, and the PFWA gave the award to kicker Jason Hanson.)

Yes it’s hindsight, but you have to wonder if the Saints could have made the playoffs if they’d started Shough all season long. As is, the NFC South winner will be either the 9-8 Panthers or the 8-9 Bucs.

Regardless, the Saints seem to have their QB of the future … at least until his 28th birthday.

🛬 Patriots 42, Jets 10: Hugely important thing to track in Week 18: My Jets are just one game away from becoming the first team since the AFL/NFL merger to go the entire season without recording a single interception. (Every other team has recorded at least two.) On Sunday, they allowed five passing touchdowns to Drake Maye, who recorded the highest QBR since ESPN invented QBR. Truly fascinating stuff considering the Jets hired a cornerback as their head coach this offseason.

🐻 49ers 42, Bears 38: The Bears’ thrilling offense and non-existent defense means I spend every week watching them and thinking, “Wow, that was The Game Of The Year.” Surprisingly, they lost Sunday’s Game of the Year of the Week, falling just short after hitting this hook-and-lateral in the game’s closing seconds:

☔️ Vikings 23, Lions 10: This was Third-String Quarterback Week in the NFL, and the highlight was the Vikings managing to win despite Max Brosmer passing for 51 yards and losing 48 on sacks, making them the first team to win a game with fewer than 10 net passing yards since 2006. Brosmer has now played The Worst Quarterback Game In Many Many Years and The Worst Quarterback Win In Many Many Years. Good for him!

🦅 Eagles 13, Bills 12: The Eagles completed zero passes in the second half but won when Josh Allen missed a receiver on this do-or-die two-point conversion.

An all-time great game for “both teams feel like they lost” vibes.

Most of the NFL’s Week 18 games are meaningless … because exactly three Week 18 games are FILLED WITH MEANING and have been assigned to standalone slots:

Saturday, 4:30 p.m. ET, Panthers @ Buccaneers: Winner wins the NFC South and gets a home playoff game. The Panthers have extended their “alternating wins and losses” streak to 10 with a loss yesterday and are guaranteed to win.

Saturday, 8 p.m. ET, Seahawks @ 49ers: Winner gets the #1 seed in the NFC, earning a first round bye and homefield advantage until the Super Bowl.

Sunday, 8:20 p.m. ET, Ravens @ Steelers: Winner wins the AFC North. With 13 of 14 playoff spots and seven of eight divisions decided before Sunday’s games kick off, Carrie Underwood would be totally justified to wait all day for Sunday night next week.

I made a video about how the NFL took over Christmas from the NBA. I know what you’re thinking: Why would I watch that, Christmas is over!

True! But the video is really about how the NFL took over basically every part of the calendar: Thursdays, Sunday mornings, December Saturdays, Black Friday, and every other nook and cranny it can weasel into.