The final bye week has gone, and the National Football League (NFL) is entering the final four weeks of the 2024/25 regular season. This effectively means that from here on in, eligible teams will be battling for the remaining play-off spots and jostling for postseason positioning, while those already eliminated from playoff contention, will be either playing spoiler (where possible) or ensuring favourable draft positions for themselves.

There are eight NFL divisions, four in the American Football Conference (AFC) and four in the National Football Conference (NFC). Each division winner is guaranteed a playoff spot in each conference, along with three non-division winners, with the best records in each conference, earning wild-card entries into the postseason, for a total of seven teams per conference.

In the AFC, the two-time defending champion Kansas City Chiefs (12-1), after another last-gasp, narrow, nail-biting victory last Sunday night, clinched their ninth-consecutive AFC West Division title, joining the Buffalo Bills (10-3), who had cliched the AFC East Division the previous week. The other earthshaking events in the AFC playoff race, coming out of last weekend, were the elimination from playoff contention of the Cleveland Browns (3-10), New York Jets (3-10) and Tennessee Titans (3-10), joining the New England Patriots (3-10), Jacksonville Jaguars (3-10) and Las Vegas Raiders (2-11), who were eliminated the previous week.

The Bills, despite losing in a classic 42-44 shootout against the Los Angeles Rams last Sunday, and breaking their seven-game win streak, saw quarterback (QB) Josh Allen set a historic record for the second straight week. Allen became the first NFL player with three passing and three rushing touchdowns in a single game, and the prior week, set the record for the first QB with a passing, a rushing and a catching touchdown in a single game. The Rams vs Bills encounter was also the highest total points of any game this season.

In the NFC, the Philadelphia Eagles (11-2) are headed back to the play-offs for a fourth straight season, following their exciting 22-16 win over the Carolina Panthers last Sunday afternoon, with running back Saquon Barkley setting a new single season franchise rushing record (1,623 yards) with four games to go, breaking LeSean McCoy’s 2013 mark of 1,607 yards.

The Eagles joined the Detroit Lions (12-1), who took down the Green Bay Packers, 34-31, in a massive dogfight last Thursday night, as the only NFC teams to have secured a playoff berth entering this weekend. At the opposite end of the spectrum, the New York Giants is the lone NFC team officially eliminated from playoff contention, with the Panthers, who are barely hanging on by a string, hoping to extend their hopes when they tackle the underperforming Dallas Cowboys on Sunday.

That said, of the 15 games slated for this weekend, there is only one game — Jaguars vs Jets — that has zero play-off implications. Therefore, expectations are high for a high-octane weekend of gridiron action. Undoubtedly, the most intense matchup will be that of the Bills (10-3) visiting Ford Field to tackle the Lions (12-1) in a clash of leading contenders to top the AFC and NFC, respectively, with just four total losses between these two heavyweights.

The Bills, who had their seven-game win streak shattered last weekend, despite a record-breaking performance by their QB, are playing at their peak, and had it not been for a slow start against the Rams, the streak would have been extended. Unfortunately, despite scoring six touchdowns on offence and not committing a turnover, the Bills registered an ominous NFL-first last weekend; teams that have scored six touchdowns and not turned the ball over in the previous 245 instances, have never lost. To their credit, during their win streak, they managed to hand the Chiefs their only loss of the season, bettering them 30-21 in week 12.

The JustBet favourite Lions lost 16-20 to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 2 and have since been on an 11-game win streak, as they have built up the best record in the NFC. They head into this encounter high on confidence, for the fact that they are playing at home, but also that they have the best running back tandem in football, in Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery. They will be up against a Buffalo team that ranks 14th in rushing yards per game allowed (123.1), 26th in rushing yards allowed per play (4.7), and they have given up the sixth-most runs of 10+ yards (49).

The Lions run the ball the fifth-most of any team in the NFL, rank eighth in yards per rush (4.6), fourth in rushing yards per game (151.1), and are fourth in total rushing touchdowns with 22. The three teams ahead of them in rushing touchdowns are the Eagles, the Bills, and the Washington Commanders, while the team right behind them is the Baltimore Ravens. The advantage these four teams have over Detroit is that they have a bona fide mobile QB, of which the Lions’ QB, Jared Goff, is not — Goff has no rushing touchdowns this year and has only 12 rushing touchdowns in his nine-year career. Therefore, the success of Detroit’s run game is all on Montgomery and Gibbs.

The Bills are still chasing the Chiefs for the best record in the AFC, but they face a stiff test this weekend while Kansas City has an easier assignment against the Cleveland Browns. However, it is no accident that Allen leads the league in touchdown passes (33) and it’s anybody’s game if a shootout breaks out in Detroit on Sunday. The Lions will have a weighty say in the matter as they lead the league with a significant +115-point differential this season, and they will reportedly be rocking their new ‘blackout’ kit for only the second time this year.

The black jerseys and blue helmets made their debut in Week 4 against the Seattle Seahawks in Detroit’s 42-29 Monday night win, and they will be hoping for a similar result this weekend to stay ahead of the NFC-pack. The Lions are in the NFC North Division that is set to take three spots in the playoffs, with the Minnesota Vikings (11-2) hot on their heels and the Green Bay Packers (9-4) close behind, having the fourth-best record in the NFC but still only third in the division.

There is a lot riding on the results this weekend, especially in the NFC, where things are densely packed and almost every team has a shot at the postseason. For the NFL-neutrals, the weekend promises end-to-end excitement, for the fans of specific teams, expect another cardiac Sunday. Are you ready for some football?

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