With the Dallas Cowboys not playing until Monday night in Week 14, fans will need something to occupy their time on Sunday. Sure, you could help out around the house, take the family out for Sunday fun day or something crazy like that. But it’s not like there won’t be football on for you to get totally lost in, all day.
Besides, who will monitor your fantasy league players who aren’t paid by Jerry Jones? There’s only a couple of months left of football so sit back and enjoy all you can, while you can because soon, you’ll be back to walking around Costco on Sundays soon enough. In case you’re wondering which games to watch, here are a few that should help you pass the time before Dallas’s big showdown with Cincinnati on Monday.
Falcons @ Vikings
Atlanta and Minnesota are two franchises with playoff aspirations but looking to keep pace in separate races. For the Falcons they’ll need to win the NFC South crown most likely to make their way to the postseason for the first time since 2017. Matt Ryan was still the quarterback in Atlanta and Dan Quinn was in his third year as head coach. The Falcons are currently tied for first with Tampa Bay but have already swept the season series. There’s also the Kirk Cousins’ return to Minnesota for the first time. We can’t forget that angle.
Minnesota's situation is slightly different as they are having a phenomenal season and attempting to stay on Detroit’s heels in the NFC North. That is the best division in football by far this year and will likely get three teams in with all winning double-digit games. Detroit and Minnesota have already won at least 10 games and Green Bay sits at nine. The Lions beat the Packers Thursday night to improve to 12-1. But from all indications, all three will be making noise in the NFC playoff bracket this season.
If you’re a fan who loves must-win games this one should have all the drama of that and then some. The Vikings are good in terms of the wild card standings but they want to win the division and potentially claim the No. 1 seed and a first-round bye. A win over the Falcons and the Vikings will remain one behind the Lions with a Week 18 face-off in Detroit looming. That could be for the division crown as well as the No. 1 seed in the NFC.
Browns @ Steelers
Although Cleveland never had playoff hopes this season, this rivalry game is always huge and it’s even bigger for Pittsburgh, which is trying to fend off Baltimore at the top of the division. On paper, this looks like a no-brainer, but anytime two rivals from the same division get together, anything can happen.
At the least Cleveland should make this one interesting with the wild one, Jameis Winston flinging the ball all over the field for the Browns. In Monday’s loss to Denver, Winston set a new career-high passing for 497 yards and added four touchdowns. He also chucked three interceptions with the Broncos taking two of those back to the house.
At 3-9, no one expects much of anything out of the Browns but what they can do over these final weeks of the season is play spoiler. They would love to hurt Pittsburgh’s chances of winning the division or make it much tougher than it could be. If the Browns can’t do anything else on Sunday, they should make this one exciting before eventually falling in defeat to the Steelers.
Seahawks @ Cardinals
This season the NFC West represents the tightest division race in the NFL with the fourth-place team, San Francisco sitting just two games back of first-place Seattle. So, this matchup between the Arizona Cardinals (6-6) and the Seahawks (7-5) is of the utmost importance as we approach the end of the season.
Seattle beat Arizona two weeks ago at home so the Seahawks will be looking to finish off their foe in Week 14. Coming in with a one-game lead, handing the Cardinals another head-to-head loss would essentially give the Seahawks a three-game lead over their holding the tiebreaker if needed.
Having said all that, this should be a highly contested game since the Cardinals are fighting to keep their season alive for at least another week. Arizona’s best shot at making the postseason will be to win this division since they are so far behind teams like Minnesota and Green Bay who lead the way in the wild card standings.
Chargers @ Chiefs
In what could rival Green Bay-Detroit for game of the week, the Los Angeles Chargers head to Arrowhead in a huge divisional clash with the Kansas City Chiefs. The Jim Harbaugh effect has taken full control over the Chargers as they’ve nearly doubled their win total (5) from last year with five games left to play.
That coveted AFC West title is pretty much out of reach with the Chiefs standing tall at 11-1 but the 8-4 Chargers are right in the thick of the wild card race and need a win to stay ahead of Denver and Baltimore in the No. 5 slot. Doing so won’t be an easy task on Sunday night against the Chiefs although the Chargers are a more refined team than they were during their last meeting in Week 4 in which KC walked away the victors, 17-10.
This could be another low-scoring affair with a few big plays here and there that decide it. The Chargers own the No. 1 scoring defense in the league giving up just 15.7 points per game while the Chiefs are No. 8 allowing opposing offenses 19.6. And while this has been a down year for Patrick Mahomes, the defense has picked up a lot of the slack and this franchise has managed to lose just one out of 12 games thus far. No matter the outcome, watching two great coaches like Harbaugh and future Hall of Famer, Andy Reid in this chess match should be fun to watch.