When the NFL announced the regular-season schedule this offseason, it slotted every Week 18 game either at 1 p.m. ET or 4:25 p.m. ET on Sunday, Jan. 9. But it also left three other time slots open for games to be flexed into, depending on their playoff implications.
Not only will there be a game on Sunday night, but the NFL has also scheduled games at 4:30 and 8:15 p.m. ET on Saturday. Rams-49ers and Cardinals-Seahawks looked like two games that might warrant the Saturday time slots, but the league went in a different direction.
The NFL announced the full Week 18 schedule after flexing three games. Chiefs-Broncos will be on Saturday afternoon, Cowboys-Eagles is scheduled for Saturday night, and Chargers-Raiders will cap off the regular season on Sunday night – a game where the winner will make the playoffs and the loser misses out.
Rams-49ers will remain at 4:25 p.m. ET, along with Seahawks-Cardinals.
Below is the complete Week 18 schedule, with all times ET.
The likeliest reason for the NFL to keep Rams-49ers in the 4:25 p.m. ET slot instead of moving it to Sunday night or Saturday is the need to keep it at the same time as the Cardinals-Seahawks game.
If the Rams were moved to Sunday night, they could potentially rest their players if the Cardinals, Buccaneers and Cowboys all lost earlier in the day, thus locking the Rams into the No. 2 seed. Now with both NFC West games at the same time, neither the Rams nor the Cardinals can rest their players based on the outcome of the other matchup.
As long as the Rams win, they’ll earn the No. 2 seed and potentially knock the 49ers out of the playoffs if the Saints also win. So there’s a lot riding on this final game.
