It all comes down to next week. Week 17 of the NFL season was frontloaded with games on Christmas and Saturday , but Sunday’s slate carried plenty of playoff implications . And the clear winners were the Minnesota Vikings, who controlled their NFC North rivals, the Green Bay Packers, for most of the game, setting up a massive, winner-take-all showdown against the Detroit Lions for first place in the NFC.
And then, in the AFC, the Indianapolis Colts sputtered out of the field with a disappointing loss against a New York Giants team that entered Sunday with the worst record in the league. Here are the winners and losers from the penultimate Sunday of the 2024 NFL regular season. NFL STATS CENTRAL: The latest NFL scores, schedules, odds, stats and more.
WINNERS Vikings outlast Packers, set up huge season finale The Vikings have answered test after test this season. Sunday was no different, when Minnesota (14-2) outlasted the Packers (11-5) 27-25 to set up a massive regular-season finale against the Lions (13-2). The winner of that game – even if Detroit loses Monday to the San Francisco 49ers – claims the No.
1 seed in the NFC, a first-round bye and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. On Sunday, the spark was again Sam Darnold, who has fully resurrected his career. Three weeks ago, in a win against the Atlanta Falcons, Darnold set a career high with 347 passing yards.
Against Green Bay, Darnold bested himself once more, throwing for 377, including a game-icing th.