There are only three weeks left in the 2025 NFL regular season, and yet so much of the playoff picture remains completely up in the air.
How intense will the jockeying for postseason position be in the coming weeks? Arguably the most it has been since Barack Obama was still in office.
Entering Week 16, not a single one of the league's eight divisions has a champion yet, the first time that has happened since 2016, per ESPN. That means playoff seeding — including the only first-round bye — are wide open in each conference.
The foggy picture has set the stage for three massively important games beginning Thursday night, each of which will have a significant impact on who wins a division — and who gets to open the postseason at home.
Los Angeles Rams (11-3) vs. Seattle Seahawks (11-3)
This is not your older sibling's Thursday night game. What used to seem a dumping ground for the league's less-than-elite matchups is now in Week 16 one of the most important games of the year.
The Rams and the Seahawks will play for the second time this season, and the winner not only will take possession of first place in the NFC West, but it will also be in first place in the NFC full stop. The loser, on the other hand, will be in fifth place at best and enter a crowded wild-card field.
Los Angeles won the first meeting between these two clubs this year, and the Rams' defense under Chris Shula has been a thorn in Seattle quarterback Sam Darnold's side the last two seasons. In his previous two games vs. Shula-led defenses, Darnold has two touchdowns, four interceptions and a 75.7 passer rating.
This is not only a game with major standing implications; it's a chance for Darnold to get a big-moment monkey off his back.
The Seahawks will definitely be the more desperate team here, as their schedule is more difficult than Los Angeles' after this game.
Green Bay Packers (9-4-1) vs. Chicago Bears (10-4)
Saturday will feature another divisional rematch.
The Packers won a thriller at Lambeau Field in Week 14, as Caleb Williams threw an interception in the final minute of a 28-21 game.
Green Bay has a lot to gain from a win. The Packers are in the seventh and final playoff spot in the NFC, and a win could bump them to the No. 2 seed while clinching a tiebreaker over the Bears.
Chicago will almost certainly feel more pressure. The Bears have two difficult matchups after this week, as they still have to play the San Francisco 49ers and the Detroit Lions. (Green Bay, meanwhile, gets the Baltimore Ravens at home before it finishes the season on the road against the Minnesota Vikings.)
There's a real scenario in which losing this game puts Chicago in jeopardy of not only losing the division, but also missing the playoffs entirely.
Williams, the No. 1 overall pick in last year's draft, has been so-so against Chicago's chief rival in his two seasons. In three matchups, he has a 1-2 record with three touchdowns, one interception and an 88.3 passer rating.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers (7-7) vs. Carolina Panthers (7-7)
This matchup is a like a second-act fight between our hero and our villain, as the climactic battle is still to come when the Buccaneers and the Panthers face off in the final week of the season.
This game will give one of them a leg up in the NFC South, however, and it would almost certainly push the loser out of the playoffs entirely. Carolina enters Week 16 in ninth place, while Tampa Bay is fourth by virtue of a common-opponent tiebreaker.
While the drama of a final-week division-or-bust game would be delicious, don't sleep on a game that features two teams on wildly different trajectories.
The Buccaneers started the season 6-2 but have lost five of their last six to fall to .500. Head coach Todd Bowles was fed up after a one-point loss to the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday, laying into his team with an expletive-laden tirade during his postgame news conference.
The Panthers, meanwhile, have been a confounding club all season. They started the year 1-3 and have gone 6-4 since, with impressive wins over the likes of the Packers, the Rams and the Dallas Cowboys. Carolina has also somehow lost against the Arizona Cardinals and twice against the New Orleans Saints — who have four wins all season.
Both teams have proven to be unpredictable, which should make Sunday's showdown all the more exciting.
