It’s Week 18! The last 16 games of the 2024 regular season will finalize the playoff bracket and sort out the order of the first 18 picks in the draft. There is plenty on the line, from potentially the MVP award to ramifications on the coaching carousel. Making picks can be difficult, with many playoff teams resting key players (including the Philadelphia Eagles’ Saquon Barkley).
The biggest game of the week, and perhaps the season, will be the NFC North showdown between the Detroit Lions and Minnesota Vikings. The winner will get the No. 1 seed, while the loser will go on the road as the No. 5 seed. Our pickers are split down the middle on who will win. Elsewhere, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers can clinch the NFC South with a win over the New Orleans Saints, and all of our writers and editors believe they will get it. And the AFC North will be decided by a pair of games on Saturday, which will also determine whether the Cincinnati Bengals remain alive to get help on Sunday.
Here’s who we have making picks this season:
Albert Breer, senior NFL reporter (X/Twitter)
Conor Orr, senior writer (X/Twitter, BlueSky)
Gilberto Manzano, staff writer (X/Twitter, BlueSky)
Matt Verderame, staff writer (X/Twitter)
John Pluym, managing editor (X/Twitter)
Mitch Goldich, senior editor (X/Twitter, BlueSky)
All picks are straight up. Visit SI Betting for picks against the spread and much more gambling content.
Green squares denote upsets.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as NFL Week 18 Picks From the MMQB Staff: Lions-Vikings Battle for No. 1 Seed.