The Atlanta Falcons may not be in contention to win the NFC South, but they'll play a factor in determining who will. After the Tampa Bay Buccaneers knocked off the Carolina Panthers on Sunday night, Sunday's matchup between the Falcons and Saints just went from inconsequential to crucial.
If the Panthers had won, they would have clinched the division for the first time in a decade, but now, both teams are going to have to scoreboard watch this afternoon. The Bucs prevailed 16-14, meaning that a Dirty Birds' victory could be what keeps their hated division rivals out of the playoffs.
Bucs beat the Panthers, and now comes the chaos in the NFC South:
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) January 4, 2026
🏈 If the Saints beat or tie the Falcons on Sunday, Tampa Bay wins the division.
🏈 If the Falcons beat the Saints, the Panthers clinch the division via a three-way tiebreaker and head to playoffs instead.
if the Falcons win, the Panthers will clinch the final available playoff spot in the NFC, but a Saints' victory will send the Bucs to the playoffs. So even though they've been eliminated from playoff contention for weeks now, many NFC South fans be forced to tune into what's going down in Atlanta.
The Falcons' Week 18 result will be what determines the NFC South champion
Given Raheem Morris is already fighting for his job against the Falcons' biggest rivals, the stakes just drastically increased even further. This a game many fans already want to see them prevail in to pull off their first season sweep of the Saints since 2016, when Atlanta went all the way to the Super Bowl.
While there are no Super Bowl implications with a sweep this time around, throwing a wrench in the Bucs' playoff hopes is always something that intrigues Falcons fans. And the only thing standing in their way of a Carolina playoff berth is a Saints' squad that has been winners of four straight games.
The New Orleans' offense has been propelled by the efforts of rookie quarterback Tyler Shough, but they'll be missing star receiver Chris Olave. That's a devastating blow for a player who is in the midst of a career year, especially for an Atlanta defense that has several players fighting for their futures.
This was trigged by the Falcons' upset victory over the Rams on Monday Night Football, which was another game nobody expected Atlanta to win. The Saints may have won four straight, but their own three-game win streak came with victories against far superior opponents like the Bucs and Rams.
Unfortunately, this is an ugly pill for the Falcons to swallow because if they won just one of their many one-score losses, they'd be controlling their own fate to win the division. But instead, they lost to teams like the Jets and the playoff drought will extend into an eighth season as they'll make a rival fanbase's dreams come true.