The Saints face the Bucs in Tampa on Sunday. We break down what the game means for the NFL playoff picture.
The NFL will wrap up the 2024-25 regular season on Sunday and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers can punch their playoff ticket when they host the New Orleans Saints. The game kicks off at 1 p.m. ET. Tampa Bay won the first game between these two, going on the road to thump New Orleans 51-27 in Week 6.
The Bucs are 9-7 and lead the NFC South by one game over the Atlanta Falcons. If the Bucs win or the Falcons lose to the Carolina Panthers on Sunday, Tampa Bay wins the division. However, if the Bucs lose and the Falcons win, Atlanta would win the division by virtue of the head-to-head tiebreaker. The Falcons claimed a 36-30 overtime road win over the Bucs in Week 5 and then won again 31-26 in a Week 8 matchup in Tampa.
If the Bucs and Falcons both lose, the Bucs would be the No. 4 seed and face the No. 5 seed, which would be the loser of the Minnesota Vikings and Detroit Lions Sunday Night Football contest. If the Bucs win and the Los Angeles Rams win their game against the Seattle Seahawks, the same would hold true. However, if the Bucs beat the Saints and the Rams lose to the Seahawks, the Bucs would move up to the No. 3 seed and face either the Washington Commanders or Green Bay Packers.
If the Bucs win they would clinch the conference record tiebreaker against the Rams. That would come into play if the Rams lose to the Seahawks and drop into a tie with the Bucs.
