Five Wide: 2025 Week Eighteen

By Thomas Willoughby

Can’t believe it’s over, man. Eighteen weeks, six different countries, and now half the league has stopped playing. We’re onto the playoffs, where the best (and the Panthers) will duke it out for a shot at the biggest prize of all.

This is where I get to say thank you to everyone who’s read this across the season. With the regular season over, this series also wraps up for another year. It’s a pleasure to do this silly thing every week, and I can’t wait to do it all again next year. I’m sure you feel the same.

For one last time this season, then, here’s the good stuff:

Step into my office

Black Monday. The most brutal date in the NFL calendar. The day after the final weekend of the season, the firings come rolling in. Two sides, the Giants and the Titans, got ahead of the game by moving on their head coaches mid-season. Mere hours after completing a 19-17 win over the Saints, however, the Falcons joined the party. Both the head coach and the general manager roles are open, and, in a letter to fans, owner Arthur Blank committed to more changes on the way.

The Browns followed, confirming that two time coach of the year, Kevin Stefanski, was out. GM Andrew Berry would remain, but Stefanski, the Browns’ best head coach in the modern era, was out. You’d expect him to be highly sought after, given his success in Cleveland, despite being in Cleveland.

Pete Carroll, too, was shown the door. The Raiders hoped to get more from pairing Carroll with Geno Smith, and ended up with the first overall pick. You’d imagine his time as a coach full stop has surely ended, now. And Jonathan Gannon, fresh off his third losing season in a row, is now out of Arizona. The confidence Gannon has shown in his own position through the year has been bizarre, as an outsider looking in. 

The big one, however, came hours after I submitted this piece to be published (typical). The Baltimore Ravens, fresh off an extremely poor 8-9 season, decided to part ways with John Harbaugh. Harbaugh, who’d been in Baltimore for EIGHTEEN YEARS, and won one Super Bowl title, felt like he’d be there forever. One bad season doesn’t feel like total justification to move on, in my opinion. How they move forward will be most interesting.

There’ll likely be changes to come across the league in the coming days. In fact, I expect this to be outdated by the time it’s published. Expect more upheaval as we get deeper into the playoffs and beyond.

Wade Vandervort - Las Vegas Sun

Kit Watch 2025: Part XIV

This week’s headline act could be found on Saturday night, where the San Francisco 49ers rounded off the debut Rivalries campaign, and they saved the best for last. This is magnificent. All black with red and gold detailing, delightful saloon-style numbering, and an absurdly nice gold face mask. Unreal effort from Nike, here.

Sergio Estrada-Imagn Images

With the campaign now over, I can OFFICIALLY announce that the first batch of rivalries uniforms are ranked in this order, from best to worst: 49ers, Patriots, Bills, Rams, Dolphins, Jets, Seahawks, Cardinals. Join us next season, when we get to do it all over again with the AFC South and the NFC North.

The Houston Texans opted for their “H-Town” alternate uniforms again, previously worn in Week 8, which are still extremely generic, in a “relocated franchise in Madden” sense. We also got a collection of throwbacks, with Buffalo, Denver, Minnesota, Philadelphia, and Jacksonville all donning threads from yesteryear to close out the season. We’ve covered them all this season, but the Buffalo Bills opted to pair their throwback uniforms with a new red helmet, and this brought the whole thing together. Sunday was the last regular season game at Highmark Stadium, and likely the last game at Highmark full stop given their seeding in the playoffs. This was a fitting combination to wear for the occasion.

Gregory Fisher-Imagn Images

Choose Your Fighter

As covered last week, the NFC South, the league’s biggest shame, was decided on the final weekend. The Panthers travelled to the Buccaneers knowing a win would see them through as champions with a 9-8 record. In ugly conditions, and even uglier sporting efforts, they lost. 16-14 Buccaneers, both teams sat at 8-9 to end the season.

The wrinkle in all this was the game between the Falcons and the Saints on Sunday. What started the week as a battle between disharmonious neighbours would end as the battleground in a proxy war between the Panthers and the Buccaneers. The Panthers knew a win for the Falcons would see them through on a head to head to head tiebreaker. The Buccaneers needed the Saints, as they would then progress having had a better record against common opponents than the Panthers. 

It wasn’t really a competition, in the end. The Falcons, for all their flailing, built up a lead big enough that Tyler Shough and company couldn’t come close to overcoming. The scoreline doesn’t really reflect the game. For Carolina, it was straight onto Ticketmaster to book their seats for Saturday nights dance with Los Angeles. For Tampa Bay, some soul searching. And the other two? Atlanta stretched its historical record over New Orleans to 58-56. And, really, that’s all that matters.

Kevin C. Cox-Getty Images

Sack Attack

The biggest story of the weekend is undeniably that Myles Garrett is not a normal human being. As mentioned in week 16, Garrett was on the cusp of breaking the all time single season sack record, one that has stood since 2001, and matched in 2021. He drew a blank in week 17, however, when the Steelers decided to mortgage securing the AFC North in favour of refusing to be the team to give up sack number 23 to Garrett. He was double teamed at all times, and Rodgers played the most alert he’s ever played, as the Steelers lost. Hey, at least they didn’t give up a sack.

It was onto the Browns’ cross-State rivals, then, where they met the Cincinnati Bengals. And, for long stretches, it looked like it might not happen. Garrett was getting close, but just couldn’t finish the job. Then, with only 5 minutes to play, it happened.

Not the prettiest sack you’ll ever see. But almost certainly the sweetest. They all count, at the end of the day, and Garrett was rightfully honoured. The game was stopped, he got carried off on his teammates shoulders. Imagine if this happened in a game that meant something, by the way? Your team driving to clinch the division and they have to stop the game because your QB got dropped one time.

For me, that’s the MVP conversation over. There really is no need to pretend like either Stafford, Maye, Allen, or whoever made a bigger contribution than Myles Garrett. The guy broke a 25 year old record. Just give him the award and go back to it being a QB thing next season.

Rich Get Richer

I’m sure it wasn’t intentional, but I find it incredibly funny that the Kansas City Chiefs will be picking in the top 10 in 2026. Not because I dislike them, I don’t really. They’ve yet to hurt me on a cosmic sense. But the moment they dropped out of playoff contention, the switch was flicked and they became a tanking machine.

Oh yes, we’re having that conversation. Tanking in the NFL doesn’t really exist. Coaches and players have too much on the line to become a professional losing machine. Unless you do what the Browns did in the late 2010s, and basically hamper your team to the point where all you can do is lose, no one in the organisation really benefits. But Kansas City is different. Their Head Coach and General Manager is set, the bulk of their roster, too. Those final three games were nothing more than a contractual obligation, and it showed.

They ended the season on a 6 game losing streak, man. Half of those were with Chris Oladokun playing meaningful minutes. A man called Shane Buechele got some gametime against the Raiders. But the organisation well and truly zoned in on getting as high of a pick as they can. Which is probably wise given this was a team in dire need of a proper refresh.

Even when they lose, they win. Chiefs winning it all again in 2027.

Features Image Credit: John Kuntz-Cleveland.com

Thomas Willoughby

NFL ANALYST

THOMAS IS A WRITER, AND REGULAR GUEST ON THE TOUCHDOWN REVIEW SHOW PODCAST, FOR THE TOUCHDOWN. YOU CAN FIND HIM @WILLO290592 ON TWITTER

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Rated 5 out of 5