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NFL Saturday tripleheader: What's at stake in Chargers-Patriots, Broncos-Bengals and Rams-Cardinals

frank schwab
Senior writer
·5 min read

The NFL does its best to get interesting matchups late in the season. It's not always easy.

Injuries hit teams, some teams clinch early and other teams get eliminated before Christmas. The league has to get creative sometimes. This year it designated five matchups, three of which could be moved to Saturday for a tripleheader. The NFL announced its Week 17 games for Saturday last week. All three have some playoff implications.

All three games will be on NFL+, as well as NFL Network.

Here are the main storylines for each of the three Saturday games:

Making the playoffs isn't entirely new to the Los Angeles Chargers. But given the talent on the roster, they should have more on their resume since 2018 than one playoff berth, which is known for one of the biggest collapses in NFL history. The Jacksonville Jaguars came back from a 27-point deficit to beat the Chargers in a 2022 season wild-card round game. That's Los Angeles' only playoff appearance the last five seasons.

The Chargers will clinch another playoff spot if they beat the New England Patriots in the first game Saturday. The Chargers also clinch with a Dolphins loss or tie combined with a Colts loss or tie, but it would be more satisfying to get in with a win.

The Patriots are 3-12 and perhaps playing on a national stage Saturday will motivate them. New England did give the Buffalo Bills a scare last week in a 24-21 loss, so the Patriots are still playing hard. They are getting solid play from rookie quarterback Drake Maye. The best the NFL can hope is that a three-win team keeps the first game of a tripleheader interesting.

The Cincinnati Bengals' playoff hopes aren't dead, but they aren't looking good either. The only thing Cincinnati can do is win and hope, and that starts Saturday afternoon against the Denver Broncos.

The story of the Bengals' season is unusual. It's rare to get MVP-level play from your quarterback and still have a losing record. Joe Burrow has been great, leading the NFL with 4,229 yards and 39 passing touchdowns, and the Bengals are still stuck with a 7-8 record and little chance of making the postseason. The Bengals defense has let the team down many times this season.

The Broncos have had an unexpected season too but with positive results. Bo Nix was the sixth quarterback taken in the NFL Draft, but he has had a very strong rookie season and the Broncos are 9-6. They clinch a playoff berth with a win or tie on Saturday. That would be the team's first playoff appearance since the end of the 2015 season, when Peyton Manning started his final game and the Broncos won Super Bowl 50. A fantastic one-on-one matchup to watch will be Broncos cornerback Patrick Surtain II, an NFL Defensive Player of the Year candidate, against Bengals star receiver Ja'Marr Chase, who has a case for NFL Offensive Player of the year.

This game would have been a lot more exciting if the Arizona Cardinals didn't get eliminated from the playoffs with a loss last week. Still, the Rams have plenty to play for.

The Rams had the chance to clinch the NFC West title heading into this week, but they can't clinch on Saturday night due to Seattle's win on Thursday. But they can get very close. The Rams can clinch this week with a win against the Cardinals and securing the strength of schedule tiebreaker over Seattle, which would require more than 3.5 wins between the Vikings, Bills, 49ers, Commanders, Bengals and Browns according to the NFL. Even if the Rams beat the Cardinals, that wouldn't be decided until Sunday. But if the Rams win, the Seahawks would need a ton of help to take the division. Conversely, if the Rams lose on Saturday night then Rams vs. Seahawks in Week 18 will decide the division champion.

No matter what, it's a surprise the Rams are in any position to win the NFC West. They started the season 1-4 and there was plenty of speculation that they might trade Matthew Stafford or Cooper Kupp. The Rams come into Saturday's game with a 9-6 record. The 49ers have been disappointing through multiple injuries, the Seahawks have been inconsistent all season and the Cardinals hit a late-season slump. That gave the Rams, who were without Puka Nacua and Kupp early in the season, a chance to take the division.

The Cardinals are playing to get some momentum for next season, if that's possible after losing four of five to drop out of the playoff race. If nothing else, Kyler Murray and Marvin Harrison Jr. can use the final two games to establish a better connection, something that has been an issue for the Cardinals this season.

But the Rams are the story on Saturday night. Sean McVay has already established himself as one of the best coaches in the NFL. A division title after losing four of five to start the season would just add to his reputation.