The 2025 regular season finale for the New Orleans Saints will officially be at Noon CT at the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday, Jan. 4. While the Saints-Falcons game does not have playoff implications for either team, it could decide the winner of the NFC South. Both the Carolina Panthers and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers may have their fates in the Saints’ and Falcons’ hands.

New Orleans comes into the final week riding a four-game winning streak, last accomplished back in 2020. The 6-10 Saints finished December with an undefeated 4-0 record. They could even finish in second place in the NFC South with a win at Atlanta and a Tampa Bay Buccaneers loss to the Carolina Panthers on Saturday. The Falcons upset the Los Angeles Rams on Monday Night Football, winning three in a row after losing seven of their previous eight.

Atlanta’s only win in that stretch was a 24-10 victory in New Orleans back in Week 12. That victory gave the Falcons a 57-56 all-time edge in one of the most fiercely contested rivalries in the NFL. New Orleans has also lost their last two games played in Atlanta, but had won five consecutive road games in the series prior to that. Overall, the Saints have a 27-29 record in road games against the Falcons. And they’re 5-3 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium since Atlanta opened there back in 2017.

Because the Falcons beat the Rams on Monday night, Sunday’s game with the Saints suddenly has big implications for the rest of the NFC South. If the Buccaneers defeat the Panthers on Saturday, the NFC South title would go to Carolina with an Atlanta win over New Orleans by way of tiebreaker. But if the Saints win or tie, the tiebreaking edge goes to Tampa Bay. That’s also going to decide the division standings and whether the Saints finish in second, third, or fourth place. Let’s game it out.

If the Buccaneers beat Panthers and Saints beat Falcons:

Buccaneers (8-9)Carolina (8-9)New Orleans (7-10)Atlanta (7-10)

If the Panthers beat Buccaneers and Saints beat Falcons:

Panthers (9-8)New Orleans (7-10)Tampa Bay (7-10)Atlanta (7-10)

If the Panthers beat Buccaneers and Falcons beat Saints:

Carolina (9-8)Tampa Bay (7-10)Atlanta (7-10)New Orleans (6-11)

What if the Panthers and Buccaneers tie on Saturday? Carolina would be up, barely, at 8-8-1 against Tampa Bay at 8-9. In that case the Saints-Falcons rivalry game would only matter in terms of divisional seeding and good old-fashioned hate.