Thank you for joining us again on this emotional, 21-week journey of 267 games through Super Bowl 54. We promise we will laugh, cry and try our best to win along the way. As that last line might have indicated, these spread picks should be used for responsible entertainment purposes only. Let’s begin the fun of not losing too much money by picking every outcome in Week 1 and, as always, look for line and pick tweaks as we get closer to kickoff....

Both his family and the Pro Football Hall of Fame confirmed his death. Greene, known for his blonde locks flowing from underneath the back of his helmet, is third all-time in the NFL with 160 career sacks, which trails only Reggie White and Bruce Smith. Greene, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2016, also had five interceptions and 23 forced fumbles to his credit. “The entire Pro Football Hall of Fame family mourns the passing of Kevin Greene,” Hall of Fame president and CEO David Baker said Monday....

For the 49ers, despite being on their third QB of the year – Mr. Irrelevant 2022 Brock Purdy – the Super Bowl is still the goal. Purdy is unbeaten in his first six NFL starts, and looking to cement his rookie legacy with a strong postseason appearance. With San Francisco advancing, they’ll be playing the higher seed out of wild card weekend, with the Eagles playing the lower one. That leaves a few possibilities for the No....

The path to the postseason in Week 18 was wild. The Colts, who were widely expected to earn one of the two Wild Card berths that had yet to be clinched, were defeated by the Jaguars. That knocked them out of the AFC playoff picture while opening the door for the Steelers to make it in after their win over the Ravens. So long as the Chargers and Raiders don’t tie on “Sunday Night Football”, the Steelers will go to the postseason in what is presumed to be Ben Roethlisberger’s final season....

The Chiefs, Steelers and Saints all have paths to clinching playoff berths in Week 13. Kansas City and Pittsburgh actually have ways to clinch their division crowns, too, as they battle for the AFC’s No. 1 seed. Each team’s scenario is mostly dependent on a win and some help with still four regular-season weeks to go after this one. Below are all the NFL playoff clinching scenarios for the three teams that have chances to stamp their postseason status in Week 13, followed by a complete playoff picture....

Minnesota was the biggest underdog of wild-card weekend. The Vikings were as much as 8.5-point underdogs against the Saints last week, but they closed at +7 after a bevy of sharp money came in on Minnesota last Sunday. Their impressive win over the Saints in the Crescent City has some pundits believing they can beat the No. 1 overall seed in the NFC, so they are currently getting just seven points on the road against San Francisco....

Los Angeles (8-7) suffered a big upset loss at Houston in Week 16. Despite the Texans being depleted offensively and defensively with a COVID-19 outbreak, they blew past the somewhat shorthanded Chargers, 41-29. Here’s how that shocking result affects the Chargers’ attempt to make the AFC tournament as at least the No. 7 and final seed: MORE: Updated standings for AFC, NFC playoff picture NFL playoff picture: Chargers’ AFC wild-card chances The Chargers had a chance to take first place from the Chiefs in the AFC West in Week 15....

That’s because, with three games left to play in the 2019 NFL season, they would still hold the head-to-head tiebreaker over the equally maddeningly inconsistent Eagles (5-7), who host the Giants (2-10) on Monday night. The Cowboys have gone from a 3-0 start to 3-7 in their past 10 games, which has put coach Jason Garrett on the hottest of seats with their owner/general manager, Jerry Jones, growing increasingly frustrated....

The postseason field expanding by one team each in the AFC and the NFC to a total of 14 has brought more teams into realistic contention over the closing stretch. Based on the current standings, here’s an updated look at what each conference tournament would look like if the playoffs started now: WEEK 12 NFL PICKS: Against the spread | Straight-up predictions NFL standings for Week 12 AFC playoff picture Who would be in?...

After a fairly entertaining super wild-card weekend featuring two tripleheaders on Saturday and Sunday, a little bit of NFL playoff normalcy returns this weekend, with four matchups spread across two days. In the NFC, the Rams and their vicious D hopes to shut down the No. 1 seeded Packers at Lambeau Field. The Rams will be facing a difficult challenge, though, not only that they’re facing Aaron Rodgers, but that they are searching for an answer at QB themselves; John Wolford’s status for the matchup is up in the air following a hospital visit while Jared Goff continues to nurse his thumb back to health....

It might be because there's almost nothing left to say about exactly how stellar this quartet of coaches is — as accomplished as any group to bring their teams to within a step of the Super Bowl in the past decade. Three of the four — Bill Belichick and John Fox in the AFC and Jim Harbaugh in the NFC — have taken their teams to Super Bowls, with Pete Carroll the odd man out....

Sunday’s games provided a little more separation for the best teams in the league and also further buried some of its worst teams. It’s getting easier to pick out the Super Bowl contenders from the also-rans, but there’s still plenty to sort out across the board as the season progresses. MORE: Latest NFL QB power rankings Here are all the risers and fallers in our regular league-wide stock watch....

Well, the answer to that was a resounding yes. As a result, March 2022 was one of the craziest months in recent NFL history. While Rodgers stayed put, Wilson and Watson were both traded for massive packages involving multiple first-round draft picks. The Watson trade caused Matt Ryan to be moved and will also signal the end of the Baker Mayfield era in Cleveland. Carson Wentz was also traded and, oh yeah, Tom Brady came out of retirement just 40 days after his initial announcement....

Buffalo and Philadelphia remains on track to be the Super Bowl matchup favorite, but behind them, Kansas City, San Francisco and other teams are ready to flex down the stretch. Here’s breaking down how all of the league’s teams stack up against each other after half of the season, from 1-32: MORE: Updated NFL playoff picture after Week 9 NFL power rankings Week 10 Philadelphia Eagles 8-0 (previous ranking: 1) The Eagles were more methodical than dominant in taking care of the Texans in Week 9, but they need to save their offensive and defensive pop for the long haul with the Super Bowl win and undefeated season, in that order, being the priorities....

Last year delivered on a thrilling season, capped off with a surprising Super Bowl between the Rams and Bengals, ending with the Rams capturing their first title since Super Bowl 34. The race now is on for who will be the next Super Bowl champion. The Sporting News is unveiling a model to project the 2022 NFL season and make predictions based on the results. The model creates ratings for each team’s offense and defense based on past performances and offseason moves, including trades, free agent signings and draft picks, and uses those ratings as a way of determining who will win in each matchup....

The lines below are the Las Vegas consensus as of Friday morning. Visit our odds page for current point spreads and totals. Seahawks at Chiefs Line: Chiefs -3, Total: 40.5 This game opened as a pick ’em in Las Vegas, with the Chiefs bet up to field-goal favorites as the week progressed. Much of the line move came when Andy Reid announced his starters will play “close to” a full half for the squad’s second preseason game....

Obviously, this is not the case with every team. Tom Brady will never have to fight for a spot. Patrick Mahomes is the franchise in Kansas City. But especially after a draft class that saw four first round QBs taken, there has been plenty of speculation as to who will be the starters under center for several NFL teams heading into the 2021 season. Sporting News is taking a look at where each of the 32 NFL teams stand following the end of preseason....

Of course, in 2019, chatter around NFL officiating has been as loud as ever, leaving referees to explain questionable calls made by their crews after most games. With the addition of pass interference to the NFL’s replay review system this year, senior vice president of officiating Al Riveron’s performance is also under the microscope. Each week, the NFL announces its referee assignments for its slate of games on Thursday, Sunday and Monday....

The surprising moment forced referee Tony Corrente to stop play briefly as the little guy was chased around by a man with a big net. The NFL has released audio from the squirrel encounter — and it’s hilarious. MORE: Falcons fan happily knocks cheesehead hats off Packers fans Morgan Burnett’s reaction to the squirrel is the best, “Ooh a little squirrel now. The squirrel came to help us out, Jimmy the squirrel!...