Steve Brownlee

Some pro football pundits have been talking about the unique nature of this week’s games, as it is the first time a Week 18 has ever been held.

This extra week on the schedule was necessitated when the league added a 17th game to this year’s season for the first time.

One given for about 30 years now is that a bye week for each team is built into the schedule, meaning there’s one more week than there are games.

But when I heard that this Week 18 is unique, I thought, no way, I certainly remember a Week 18 being held before.

With a little research, I found it’s actually happened twice — sort of.

The first time — the real time — was in 1993, just a few years after a bye week was built into the schedule for the first time.

The league figured if one bye was good, two must be better, so it took 18 weeks to fit in the 16 games that year, a year that concluded with the Dallas Cowboys winning the Super Bowl over the Buffalo Bills for the second consecutive year.

Now in 2022, with all the coronavirus cases combined with just regular old injuries popping up all over, that seems like it would be a great idea to reintroduce. But that will be for another time.

Alas, back in the early ’90s the league did the double-bye week for one season, and for whatever reason (not one I found), the powers that be dropped it in favor of the single bye that has been employed ever since.

The second time the 18th week made an appearance was in 2001, of course the year of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York, Washington, D.C., and rural Pennsylvania.

The weekend immediately following the attacks was postponed and instead tacked on to the end of the regular season in early January.

You could call it “Week 18” since it was played a week after Week 17, though it was really just a rescheduling of Week 2.

Because the regular season ended a week later, it forced the playoffs to start a week later, too.

From what I also remember, that meant the NFL was forced to deal with a Super Bowl in February for the first time — I had heard they had a phobia about making sure their showcase game was played in January — and the game was moved to Feb. 3 when the Patriots beat the St. Louis Rams 20-17 in one of the most exciting finishes ever.

Ever since, the Super Bowl has been held in February, which is necessary because the league doesn’t want to start its regular season until after Labor Day.

In fact, this year’s 18th week pushes the playoffs back another week, so this will be the latest Super Bowl ever on Feb. 13.

Back to this year’s Week 18 picks, though. By the way, the league just came up with which games would be played on Saturday and on Sunday night only after all of last weekend’s games were completed:

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Today, 4:30 p.m.

Kansas City at Denver — I think the KC offense and Patrick Mahomes always makes the Chiefs an attractive choice for prime time, even as KC’s defense has started carrying this team. Whether or not the Mahomes & Co. offense is humming like a fine-tuned engine, KC should have enough, especially with the No. 1 seed in the AFC still a possibility. Chiefs, 27-20.

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Today, 8:15 p.m.

Dallas at Philadelphia — I’m not sure why this game ended up on Saturday night, except the draw of the Cowboys in general. With both teams already locked into the playoffs, neither team is really playing for anything, the most possible might be the No. 2 seed in the NFC for Dallas. The Cowboys seem like a team that can easily lose focus if a game isn’t for all the marbles. Eagles, 23-17.

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Sunday, 1 p.m.

Pittsburgh at Baltimore — The Ravens have fallen so far they still have a shot at last place in the AFC North. No reason to stop the freefall now. Steelers, 24-16.

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Cincinnati at Cleveland — Speaking of teams losing focus, the Bengals have been doing that continually this season. With Cleveland’s Baker Mayfield finally put out of his misery with surgery coming up, I see the Browns, 30-21.

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Green Bay at Detroit — A perfect game for the Lions to win, except they’ve got about as many players out involuntarily as Green Bay may have voluntarily. Packers, 22-17.

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Tennessee at Houston — The Texans’ modest two-game winning streak came to a screeching halt last weekend vs. the 49ers, plus Tennessee knows it has two teams hounding it for the No. 1 AFC playoff seed. Titans, 24-19.

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Indianapolis at Jacksonville — The Colts are in the catbird’s seat because Indy is in the playoffs if it wins. Should be enough vs. the team with a half-game lead on the Lions for the No. 1 draft pick. Colts, 29-19.

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Chicago at Minnesota — Two teams out of the playoffs and two teams with whispers that their head coach may get the axe. Give me the home team. Vikings, 28-20.

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Washington at New York Giants — Two more teams out of the playoffs. At least the “Football Team” can look forward to getting its new nickname in the next month. Football Team, 17-12.

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Sunday, 4:25 p.m.

New Orleans at Atlanta — The Saints will be scoreboard watching as they need the 49ers to lose to the Rams to have any chance of getting in the playoffs. Too much distraction, I say, facing a team nearly as good as them. Falcons, 20-16.

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New York Jets at Buffalo — The Bills have yet to clinch the AFC East and the first-round home game that guarantees. Bills, 27-23.

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New England at Miami — I remember Bill Belichick having a bad finish several times when he needed a good one. And this is the Dolphins’ playoff game since their season will be over Sunday. Dolphins, 33-29.

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Carolina at Tampa Bay — With Antonio Brown saying sayonara, the Bucs can get back to focusing on the game, a possible No. 2 NFC playoff seed and the second-round home game that goes with it. Buccaneers, 24-17.

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Seattle at Arizona — Arizona has something to prove with the AFC West title on the line, not to mention continuing to turn around from its late-season swoon after dispatching Dallas last weekend. Cardinals, 31-23.

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San Francisco at Los Angeles Rams — I don’t see the Rams being headed, not by a still-gimpy Jimmy Garoppolo — can you be “gimpy” with a bad thumb? — and plenty on the line. Rams, 34-27.

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Sunday, 8:20 p.m.

Los Angeles Chargers at Las Vegas — Since this is a pretty much a winner-take-all game for the last AFC playoff spot, I’ll make my prediction based on one thing — how good the Raiders’ rushing offense is, considering the Chargers’ run defense is among the worst. Looking it up, I only see three teams rushing for fewer yards’ that Vegas’ 1,443.

And just to make me feel better about it, I also notice that even though these teams are both 9-7, L.A.’s point differential is plus-18 while the Raiders is minus-68. Chargers, 26-17.

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Last week — 12-4, 75 percent. Season — 160-95-1, 63 percent.

Steve Brownlee can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 252. His email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.