NFL Week 18 Preview: Last chance to use £40 in free bets with BetMGM during regular season

After some wild twists and turns in week 17, which saw three more teams celebrate division titles, four issues remain unresolved heading into the NFL regular season’s final round of fixtures.

The AFC North and NFC South will go down to the wire after the Pittsburgh Steelers and Carolina Panthers failed to get over the line on Sunday. Now, both are in a position to miss out entirely if they lose their final games. The AFC South is also still up for grabs, but the Jacksonville Jaguars and Houston Texans are at least both safe in the knowledge they’ll be postseason-bound.

The Seattle Seahawks and San Francisco 49ers, meanwhile, will finally settle the NFC West (and number 1 seed) race – they meet at Levi’s Stadium, which will also host the Super Bowl in February. The winner of this one would put themselves in pole position to reach the showpiece.

With every one of these decisive games being flexed into different kickoff slots, BetMGM have you covered. If you haven’t yet created an account with them, now would be the ideal time to catch £40 in free bets.

It’s an excellent welcome package which includes single bets and bet builders, all of which can be used on American Football – and this is, of course, the last chance to spread those freebies across a full 16-game slate until September. You would just need to place a qualifying bet of £10 to unlock them.

NFL week 18 quick tips

• Back the Buffalo Bills to thrash the New York Jets by more than 12 points – 10/11 with BetMGM
• Tip the Los Angeles Chargers to cover the 7.5-point spread as an underdog at the Denver Broncos – 17/20 with BetMGM
• Bet on the Los Angeles Rams to see off the Arizona Cardinals by more than 9.5 points – 10/11 with BetMGM

NFL Week 18 schedule:

Saturday

• Tampa Bay Buccaneers v Carolina Panthers (9:30pm)

Sunday – early morning

• San Francisco 49ers v Seattle Seahawks (1:00am)

Sunday – 6pm window

• Atlanta Falcons v New Orleans Saints
• Cincinnati Bengals v Cleveland Browns
• Houston Texans v Indianapolis Colts
• Jacksonville Jaguars v Tennessee Titans
• Minnesota Vikings v Green Bay Packers
• New York Giants v Dallas Cowboys

Sunday – 9:25pm window

• Buffalo Bills v New York Jets
• Chicago Bears v Detroit Lions
• Denver Broncos v Los Angeles Chargers
• Las Vegas Raiders v Kansas City Chiefs
• Los Angeles Rams v Arizona Cardinals 
• Philadelphia Eagles v Washington Commanders
• New England Patriots v Miami Dolphins

Monday

• Pittsburgh Steelers v Baltimore Ravens (1:20am)

Top seed shootout in Santa Clara

After a frenetic three-horse race in the NFC West all season long, the title – and the number 1 seed in the conference – will come down to a Saturday night showdown between the San Francisco 49ers and Seattle Seahawks after both won for a sixth game in a row on Sunday.

The Los Angeles Rams, who led for most of the season until a dramatic defeat in Seattle just before Christmas, will now be faced with a road playoff game even if they finish on 13 wins.

The Niners set up the winner-takes-all contest after triumphing in a see-saw affair with the Chicago Bears on Sunday Night Football, 42-38. The Seahawks had to be patient, but ended up enjoying a much more comfortable afternoon, seeing off the Carolina Panthers 27-10 in Charlotte – a game which was deadlocked at 3-3 until the middle of the third quarter.

The Seahawks are 13-3, the 49ers are 12-4 but an outcome where both end up 13-4 would see Kyle Shanahan’s team win all the marbles given that they already claimed a victory over their West Coast rivals way back in the season’s curtain-raiser. 

The Rams are no longer in play, even if the 49ers win and Sean McVay’s team wins out to make it a three-way tie at 13-4. In that scenario, the 49ers will have improved their ‘in-division’ record to 5-1. The Rams can, at best, finish 4-2 in that regard.

Here’s how the final NFC West table will look with a win for either, assuming the Rams do win both of their last two.

If San Francisco win:

If Seattle win:

Both teams have had remarkable seasons but San Fran have navigated half of it without franchise quarterback Brock Purdy – who will be starting just his ninth game barring a disaster in practice this week. They’ve also had to deal with long-term layoffs for star defensive players Nick Bosa and Fred Warner.

Purdy has thrown or ran for an incredible nineteen touchdowns in the six games since he returned, with five of those coming against the Bears. Mac Jones deserves his flowers too, for going 5-3 in the eight games in which he deputised – he threw 13 touchdown passes during that stint.

The Niners are an exceptionally well-coached team but no season has tested them quite like this one. Few would bet against them in the playoffs now, especially if they have home-field advantage.

Seattle, and Sam Darnold, silenced many doubters in defeating the Rams under the bright lights of Thursday Night Football in week 16. Performance-wise, Darnold has picked up from where he left off in Minnesota, but question marks regarding his ability to step up in big games remained after the same opponent sent his Vikings team packing in last season’s playoffs.

He, and they, answered that one emphatically – coming up with a clutch overtime drive, and two-point conversion, to wrestle control of the NFC West away from the Rams.

The schedule makers have moved this game to the early hours of Sunday morning for us here in the UK and, as of the start of the week, BetMGM have made the hosting 49ers a one-point favourite to steal both prizes at stake.

Winner takes all in Pittsburgh

Of all the ways in which the AFC North race could’ve played out this weekend, you’d have perhaps gotten the longest odds on it unfolding like this. Only a Baltimore Ravens win, combined with a Pittsburgh Steelers defeat, would’ve kept the fight going. 

With the Ravens in Green Bay on Saturday night (early Sunday morning), fans in Pittsburgh were ready to celebrate before their team even kicked off the following day in Cleveland.

After a 36-carry, 216-yard display from Derrick Henry, however, the champagne had to go back in the fridge. At a time of year known for over-indulging, and in the absence of Lamar Jackson, Henry was fed the biggest portion of any running back this season – and he duly served up four touchdowns.

Still though, all the Steelers had to do was get the better of a three-win Browns team on the road. Their division rivals relished playing the role of ‘spoiler’ however, and in torrential rain in Cleveland, held on to win a defensive battle 13-6.

While coach Mike Tomlin has guaranteed yet another winning season – extending his personal streak of never finishing below .500 – the Steelers are now at risk of throwing the division, and only remaining playoff spot, away. While they defeated the Ravens 27-22 on the road a month ago, here’s what a split in the series would do to the final standings:

It wouldn’t just be that defeat to the Browns which the Steelers would be left rueing, their loss in Cincinnati in October when Joe Flacco was standing in for Joe Burrow, will have proven to be equally damaging.

In what will be the final regular season game, scheduled for 1:20am on Monday morning, the Ravens are now three-point favourites with BetMGM to pull off the Houdini act, winning back-to-back away games and appearing in the postseason despite all their struggles.

Likely winner-takes-all in Tampa

Having defeated the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in week 16, the Carolina Panthers entered week 17 knowing that a win for them over the Seahawks, combined with another Bucs loss in Miami would’ve wrapped up the division. The Dolphins, quarterbacked by Quinn Ewers and with nothing but pride to play for, gave them the favour they needed but the Panthers were unable to hold their end of the bargain against the red-hot Seahawks.

All of which means that this second meeting in a fortnight between the two will likely be for the NFC South title and the last available playoff spot in the conference. It’s “likely” and not “definitely”, however. Unlike the straight-up shootout in the Steel City, this one (as of Monday morning) has an interesting wrinkle to it. 

The Atlanta Falcons can also, at time of writing, still finish at 8-9. They are eliminated, however, having been swept by the Panthers earlier in the season. The Falcons have two games left – they host the Rams tonight and also the New Orleans Saints to finish off on Sunday. If they win both and Carolina loses to Tampa, that would create a three-way tie at 8-9!

In that scenario, the Panthers would take the title by virtue of having the best record in a round robin between the three – which acts as the next tie-breaker after ‘in-division’ record. The Bucs would be 2-2 in games against the Panthers and Falcons. While the Falcons would match the Panthers at 3-3 in games within the division, two of those three wins would’ve been earned against the Saints, leaving them 1-3 against the other two. 

Here’s how that would look:

Tampa will be the home team against Carolina, and BetMGM have made them three-point favourites to use their recent playoff nous to get the job done.

The Falcons are 7.5-point underdogs against the Rams. Should that come to fruition, the three-way tie situation will not be in play come Sunday and the Buccaneers would win the NFC South based on their record in common games between themselves and the Panthers.

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Elsewhere in week 18 of the NFL

The only other division title at stake is the AFC South, but with the two contenders not facing one another, it isn’t expected to produce any last-minute drama. The Jacksonville Jaguars simply need to beat the three-win Tennessee Titans at home, which would extend their winning streak to eight. 

As we’ve seen, however, division rivals shouldn’t be written off. The Titans aren’t likely to land the number one overall pick in April’s draft, and therefore shouldn’t be making “business decisions”. Should there be an upset in Florida, the Houston Texans will steal it with a win against the Indianapolis Colts – who may not be playing 44-year-old Philip Rivers. Watch out for that one, as Rivers has kept Indy competitive in what was ultimately a lost cause.

Here’s how the Texans can win a third division title in a row, which would be three in three years since drafting C.J. Stroud:

Elsewhere in the AFC, the number 1 seed will be landing in one of three cities. All roads will lead through Denver, Colorado if the Broncos win against the Los Angeles Chargers. That game at Mile High could’ve been an AFC West title fight, had the Chargers defeated the Texans on Saturday night. Instead, the visitors will be jostling for the best wildcard position with the Buffalo Bills and whoever finishes second in the AFC South.

If they were to slip up, the AFC playoff map would reroute all the way to the East Coast if the New England Patriots were to win at home against the already-eliminated Miami Dolphins. If somehow both drop the ball, the Jacksonville Jaguars would nick it if they beat the Titans – thus joining both at 13-5, but with the best ‘in-conference’ record of the three at 10-2.

The NFC is a little more straightforward given that the number 1 seed is guaranteed to come from the NFC West. The number 2 seed is still available, and will go to either the Chicago Bears – who were beaten by San Fran – or the Philadelphia Eagles, who won in Buffalo. 

The Bears are facing a Detroit Lions team who were already eliminated on Christmas Day. If they win, it’s theirs. If they slip up, the Eagles will climb with a win over the Washington Commanders. The Green Bay Packers, even if they were to finish 10-6-1 by winning in Minnesota, are locked into the seventh seed. 

The Las Vegas Raiders will secure the coveted first overall pick in the draft with another defeat – their fifteenth – to the Kansas City Chiefs.

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