The Minnesota Vikings will play the Green Bay Packers on NFL Sunday Night Football in the final game of the NFL 2015 regular season. This is a massive game and will end the season with a huge climax as the teams fight it out for division superiority and the title. The game has a scheduled start time of 8.30 p.m. ET and takes place from Lambeau Field in Green Bay. The game can be watched on TV on the NBC network or online through live stream via the link below.
Neither the Vikings nor the Packers can clinch a first round bye with a win today, but no doubt both will be going all out for a big win today ahead of the Playoffs.
Both teams have already clinched their Playoff berths, but the Vikings will be desperate to win today to clinch the NFC North division title to stop the Packers winning the title for a fifth straight year.
Every NFL team has been in action this Sunday, but none of the earlier games really mean anything for either the Packers or the Vikings. Put simply, the winner of today's game will claim the division title and will clinch the No. 3 seeding for the NFC Playoffs.
Thanks to Seattle Seahawks' win over the Arizona Cardinals earlier in the day, if Minnesota loses this game they will drop to the No. 6 seed spot and will be forced to go back on the road for a return to Lambeau Field next week. If the Packers lose they will drop to the No. 5 seed spot.
Quarterback Teddy Bridgewater has said, "We can't let the game become too big. We know that we're playing for a lot right now. But at the same time, we just have to go out there and be ourselves. You don't have to do anything extra, put any 'S's on our chest or capes on our back. Just have to do our job and do our job well."
Coming into this final weekend of the NFL 2015 regular season, most of the Playoff picture appears resolved already. Looking at the postseason picture and the games taking place today, only the Pittsburgh Steelers have a realistic chance of leapfrogging another team into the Playoff spots.
The Indianapolis Colts are not yet eliminated technically, but they need so much help from other results that only the most optimistic of Colts' fans still believe they can make the postseason.
The Colts need to beat the Titans today, and hope the Texans lose to the Jaguars for a start. However, in addition to those two basic results going their way they need seven other games to go exactly as below for them to sneak through:
1) Steelers beat the Browns
2) Broncos beat the Chargers
3) Falcons beat the Saints
4) Bills beat the Jets
5) Dolphins beat the Patriots
6) Ravens beat the Bengals
7) Raiders beat the Chiefs
Meanwhile, the Steelers don't need a long check list of results to go their way for them to sneak their way into the Playoffs. Pittsburgh simply need to defeat the Cleveland Browns for the second time this season today, and hope that the Buffalo Bills can defeat the New York Jets.
The Jets have been in excellent form this season though, so the Steelers will be feeling anxious about that game. However, they must focus today on their own task at hand and make sure they do their bit by besting the Browns. After that, then they can look at the Bills vs Jets game.
The Jets come into this weekend on the back of five straight wins, however, they did lose to the Buffalo Bills in Week 10, and they themselves need to go on the road to Buffalo today to level the series and guarantee their own Wild Card place for the postseason.
Apart from the Indianapolis Colts and Pittsburgh Steelers trying to overthrow the Houston Texans and New York Jets from the postseason berths, the other 10 places have already been snapped up, meaning that most of the tension around the league's other games today will be on who will shuffle to which seeding spot ahead of the Playoff starting.
The Denver Broncos and the Green Bay Packers both have yet to confirm their division titles, and have a lot to play for today; they need wins to guarantee themselves home postseason games.
The Broncos need to defeat the San Diego Chargers at home to earn themselves a first round bye.
Coming into Sunday's games the Playoff Picture looks like below:
AFC
1. (z) New England Patriots (12-3)
2. (x) Denver Broncos (11-4)
3. (y) Cincinnati Bengals (11-4)
4. Houston Texans (8-7)
5. (x) Kansas City Chiefs (10-5)
6. New York Jets (10-5)
In The Hunt
Pittsburgh Steelers (9-6)
Indianapolis Colts (7-8)
NFC
1. (z) Carolina Panthers (14-1)
2. (z) Arizona Cardinals (13-2)
3. (x) Green Bay Packers (10-5)
4. (y) Washington (8-7)
5. (x) Seattle Seahawks (10-5)
6. (x) Minnesota Vikings (10-5)
(z) - First-round bye
(y) - Division winner
(x) - Playoff berth
Today's big NFL Sunday Night Football game between the Minnesota Vikings and the Green Bay Packers has a scheduled start time of 8.30 p.m. ET and can be watched on TV on the NBC network or online through live stream by clicking here.
