The Tampa Bay Buccaneers won’t play football this week, and for a fan base that has seen the team lose its last four games, that may come as a relief. But an easy schedule after this Week 11 has the Bucs still hoping for a playoff bid, and there are some important games by that measure on Sunday.
Between division rivals and Wild Card races, here are three Sunday games you might want to keep an eye on:
This one is of course important because of the NFC South. The Atlanta Falcons are currently leading the division against the Bucs, going 6-4 to Tampa Bay’s 4-5 with a series sweep to boot. Tampa Bay’s best chance to make the playoffs may be to win the division, and so Bucs fans will want to tune in to this one and root for the Denver Broncos to bring Atlanta back to 6-5.
Meanwhile, there is the wild card race. The Green Bay Packers are 6-3 and retain the No. 6 seed in the NFC, but they will face the Chicago Bears, who are currently the No. 9 seed. A Bears win here would drop the Packers – the better team of the two – to 6-4, but a Packers win would significantly hurt Chicago’s playoff chances. Regardless, this is an important matchup in the Wild Card race.
The Buccaneers lost a huge opportunity by losing a game against the San Francisco 49ers. Now, as seems to be a trend with the Buccaneers, they will have to wait for the 49ers to drop games instead of controlling their own destiny. The 49ers are the No. 8 seed in the NFC, just outside the playoffs, and they face the Seattle Seahawks, who are currently the No. 10 seed. Whichever team wins this game will go one step further in the Wild Card race, so this is a team to watch.
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