{"id":653194,"date":"2026-01-04T12:16:13","date_gmt":"2026-01-04T12:16:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/653194\/"},"modified":"2026-01-04T12:16:13","modified_gmt":"2026-01-04T12:16:13","slug":"nfl-world-reacts-to-falcons-saints-deciding-nfc-south-division-winner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/653194\/","title":{"rendered":"NFL world reacts to Falcons, Saints deciding NFC South division winner"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/sportsdata.usatoday.com\/football\/nfl\/teams\/atlanta-falcons\/323\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Atlanta Falcons;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Atlanta Falcons<\/a> have been playing good football over the last month, and while the playoffs may be off the table, their Week 18 game against the <a href=\"https:\/\/sportsdata.usatoday.com\/football\/nfl\/teams\/new-orleans-saints\/350\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:New Orleans Saints;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">New Orleans Saints<\/a> will have a major impact on the NFC South race. Since the <a href=\"https:\/\/sportsdata.usatoday.com\/football\/nfl\/teams\/tampa-bay-buccaneers\/362\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Tampa Bay Buccaneers;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Tampa Bay Buccaneers<\/a> defeated the <a href=\"https:\/\/sportsdata.usatoday.com\/football\/nfl\/teams\/carolina-panthers\/364\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Carolina Panthers;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Carolina Panthers<\/a> on Saturday, the division will come down to tie-breakers.<\/p>\n<p>If the Falcons lose to the Saints on Sunday, the Buccaneers will secure their fifth straight NFC South title. On the flip side, Atlanta can send the Buccaneers home for the season and put the Panthers in the playoffs with a win over New Orleans.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>Sunday&#8217;s season finale has suddenly become must-see TV for anyone interested in the NFC playoff race. Those around the NFL found it comical that the fate of a division now rests in the hands of the two non-playoff teams.<\/p>\n<p>NFL world reacts to wild NFC South raceNFC South standings entering Sunday&#8217;s game.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Tampa Bay Buccaneers (8-9)<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">New Orleans Saints (6-10)<\/p>\n<p>Sunday&#8217;s game between the Falcons and Saints kicks off at 1 p.m. ET inside Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta.<\/p>\n<p>This article originally appeared on Falcons Wire: <a href=\"https:\/\/thefalconswire.usatoday.com\/story\/sports\/nfl\/falcons\/2026\/01\/04\/falcons-saints-nfc-south\/88015046007\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Falcons vs Saints game to decide NFC South division winner;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Falcons vs Saints game to decide NFC South division winner<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Atlanta Falcons have been playing good football over the last month, and while the playoffs may be&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":653195,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2076],"tags":[254,260,7,896,55,2572,2571,1591,6,397,250],"class_list":{"0":"post-653194","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-orleans-saints","8":"tag-atlanta-falcons","9":"tag-carolina-panthers","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-new-orleans","12":"tag-new-orleans-saints","13":"tag-neworleans","14":"tag-neworleanssaints","15":"tag-nfc-south","16":"tag-nfl","17":"tag-saints","18":"tag-tampa-bay-buccaneers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115836786480772631","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/653194","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=653194"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/653194\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/653195"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=653194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=653194"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=653194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}