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The Tampa Bay Buccaneers host the Carolina Panthers Saturday at 4:30 p.m. ET<\/a>. Both teams need to win the game for a chance of winning the division and hosting a Wild Card playoff game. <\/p>\n Panthers vs. Buccaneers will air on ABC and ESPN, and streams live on DIRECTV (free trial)<\/a>.<\/p>\n What: NFL regular season, Week 18<\/p>\n Who: Carolina Panthers vs. Tampa Bay Buccaneers<\/p>\n When: Saturday, Jan. 3, 2025<\/p>\n Where: Raymond James Stadium, Tampa, Florida<\/p>\n Time: 4:30 p.m. ET<\/p>\n TV: ABC, ESPN<\/p>\n Live stream: DIRECTV (free trial)<\/a>, fuboTV (free trial)<\/a>, Sling<\/a><\/p>\n Here\u2019s a recent NFL story via the Associated Press:<\/p>\n The NFC South can only be decided on Saturday if Carolina beats Tampa Bay.<\/p>\n Atlanta\u2019s 27-24 victory over the Rams on Monday night means the Panthers-Buccaneers matchup isn\u2019t quite winner-take-all. If Carolina wins, the Panthers (8-8) would secure the division title. If the Buccaneers (7-9) win, they will clinch their fifth straight division crown only if the Falcons lose or tie the Saints on Sunday.<\/p>\n The Panthers hold the three-team tiebreaker if all three teams finish 8-9. The Buccaneers win the two-team tiebreaker with Carolina. Atlanta was eliminated in Week 14.<\/p>\n There\u2019s plenty left to be settled before the NFL\u2019s playoff schedule is set.<\/p>\n Twelve of the 14 playoff berths have been secured and four teams are battling for the final two spots. Both No. 1 seeds are up for grabs and there\u2019s one winner-take-all game in Week 18.<\/p>\n New England (13-3) routed the Jets 42-10 on Sunday and later clinched the AFC East title when the Bills lost to the Eagles 13-12. The Patriots completed a worst-to-first turnaround under first-year coach Mike Vrabel. The NFC North champion Bears also went worst to first this season.<\/p>\n Aaron Rodgers and the Steelers missed an opportunity to lock up the AFC North, losing 13-6 at Cleveland. Now, the division championship comes down to the final game when Baltimore (8-8) visits Pittsburgh (9-7). The winner advances; the loser is eliminated.<\/p>\n San Francisco\u2019s 42-38 victory over Chicago set up a showdown against Seattle next Saturday night for the NFC West title and the No. 1 seed.<\/p>\n The Broncos (13-3), Patriots, Jaguars (12-4), Texans (11-5), Chargers (11-5) and Bills (11-5) have secured playoff spots in the AFC.<\/p>\n The Seahawks (13-3), Bears (11-5), Eagles (11-5), 49ers (12-4), Rams (11-4) and Packers (9-6-1) are heading to the NFC playoffs.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s the updated playoff picture:<\/p>\n AFC East<\/p>\n New England won its first division title since Tom Brady led the franchise to 11 straight from 2009-19. The Patriots would secure the AFC\u2019s No. 1 seed with a win over Miami and a loss or tie by Denver against the Chargers or a tie against the Dolphins and a loss by the Broncos.<\/p>\n Buffalo\u2019s run of five consecutive division crowns ended, but the Bills will be the No. 5, 6 or 7 seed.<\/p>\n AFC North<\/p>\n The Steelers beat the Ravens 27-22 at Baltimore on Dec. 7. They have to beat them again or tie them next Sunday night without wide receiver DK Metcalf and probably without star edge rusher T.J. Watt.<\/p>\n Derrick Henry and backup quarterback Tyler Huntley led the Ravens to a win at Green Bay on Saturday night that kept Baltimore in the race and made Pittsburgh\u2019s loss to Cleveland matter. Lamar Jackson\u2019s status is unknown for the do-or-die game against the Steelers due to a back injury.<\/p>\n AFC South<\/p>\n Jacksonville wins the division with a win or tie against the Titans or a loss coupled with Houston losing or tying the Colts.<\/p>\n The Texans would win the division with a victory over the Colts and a loss by the Jaguars.<\/p>\n AFC West<\/p>\n The Broncos have already won the division, ending Kansas City\u2019s nine-year run. Denver can secure the AFC\u2019s No. 1 seed with a win against the Chargers or a loss by New England to Miami.<\/p>\n Los Angeles will be the No. 5, 6 or 7 seed.<\/p>\n NFC East<\/p>\n The defending Super Bowl champion Eagles became the first team to win this division in consecutive seasons in two decades. They\u2019ll be the NFC\u2019s No. 2 or 3 seed.<\/p>\n NFC North<\/p>\n The Bears clinched their first division championship since 2018. They will be the No. 2 or 3 seed.<\/p>\n The Packers are locked into the No. 7 seed.<\/p>\n NFC South<\/p>\n The Panthers beat the Buccaneers 23-20 at home last week. They missed a chance to clinch the division by losing 27-20 to Seattle on Sunday. Tampa Bay\u2019s 20-17 loss to Miami means the Bucs need the Falcons to lose or tie the Saints in order to have a shot at winning their fifth straight division crown. Atlanta is already eliminated, but the Falcons give the Panthers a tiebreaker edge over the Buccaneers if the three teams finish 8-9. The Buccaneers hold a two-team tiebreaker advantage over Carolina.<\/p>\n NFC West<\/p>\n The 49ers beat the Seahawks 17-13 in Week 1. If they beat them again, San Francisco will earn a first-round bye and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. The Niners could become the third team to play for a Super Bowl in their home stadium.<\/p>\n Seattle secures the division title and the No. 1 seed with a win or tie against the 49ers.<\/p>\n The Rams will be the No. 5 or 6 seed.<\/p>\n Can I bet on the game? <\/p>\n Yes, you can bet<\/a> on the game from your phone in New York State, and we\u2019ve compiled some of the best introductory offers<\/a> to help navigate your first bets from BetMGM<\/a>, FanDuel<\/a>, DraftKings<\/a>, Bet365<\/a> and more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If you purchase a product through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. The Tampa Bay…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":651342,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2075],"tags":[235,260,2567,7,6,31185,236,94671],"class_list":{"0":"post-651341","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-carolina-panthers","8":"tag-carolina","9":"tag-carolina-panthers","10":"tag-carolinapanthers","11":"tag-football","12":"tag-nfl","13":"tag-nflraw25","14":"tag-panthers","15":"tag-wpmoy25"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115832645728200960","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/651341","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=651341"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/651341\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/651342"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=651341"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=651341"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=651341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}