Takeaways From Week Seventeen In The NFL

This is it! The last week of the regular season! Who gets in and who gets sent home? Who is to blame for certain team's disappointments?

• Pittsburgh's Season Ends In Disappointment: A season with Super Bowl aspirations ended in disappointment as Pittsburgh saw their playoff hopes go up in smoke in week 17. They did defeat Cincinnati, 16-13, but had to rely on the Cleveland Browns to get them in the playoffs. While Cleveland did give Baltimore one hell of a fight, they ultimately fell, 26-24. With Indianapolis booking their ticket to the playoffs, Pittsburgh saw themselves get eliminated. Second half collapses during weeks 12 through 14, not the drama surrounding Le'Veon Bell, was Pittsburgh's undoing. Pittsburgh can also blame a secondary that was listless for most of the first half of the season for their missed playoff trip. The Steelers weren't the only team with lofty preseason expectations to disappoint, though...
  
• Minnesota Can't Get the Job Done: Minnesota just had to win to get in, but only mustered 164 yards of offense. As a result, Minnesota got throttled by the Chicago Bears, 24-10. An underachieving offense along with a brutal second half schedule sent the Vikings packing, but Kirk Cousins can't escape the blame himself. In Minnesota's seven losses this season, Cousins averaged 6.5 yards per pass attempt compared to 7.79 yards per pass attempt in Minnesota's eight wins. Cousins also had a TD:INT ratio of ten to six in those losses, compared to 15 to three in Minnesota's wins.
  
• Philly Philly! Nick Foles has done it again! This time, last year's Super Bowl MVP went 28 for 33 for 221 passing yards and three touchdowns in Philadelphia's 24-0 victory over Washington. With the win, Philadelphia gets the last playoff spot in the NFC. Foles may have left that game with a chest injury. However, if Foles can make the wild card game against Chicago, watch out for the Eagles!
  
• Ravens Flock: Speaking of the Baltimore Ravens, the Ravens completed their late-season surge to the AFC North crown. A young quarterback (Lamar Jackson) who is 6-1 plus the league's best defense (4,261 total yards allowed) can create plenty of havoc in an AFC conference that appears to be wide open. Also, Eric Weddle got his $1 million bonus for making the playoffs. Hooray for Eric Weddle!
  

Top Five Rankings:

1. New Orleans Saints
2. Chicago Bears
3. Los Angeles Rams
4. Kansas City Chiefs
5. New England Patriots