Why is there a Week 18 within the NFL this 12 months? Full schedule for an additional week of soccer in 2021

The 2021 NFL season is the inaugural 12 months for the league’s 18-week, 17-game season. 

This season was the primary since 1978 the place the variety of video games was modified. In 1978, the NFL moved from 14 video games per season to 16. Now, it seems to be as if the 17-game season is right here to remain for the subsequent few years not less than.

This weekend’s Week 17 matchups is not going to mark the top of the NFL season. Week 18 video games will be performed Saturday, Jan. 8, and Sunday, Jan. 9, to complete out the 2021 season.

MORE: NFL’s expanded schedule, explained

Here is what you could learn about Week 18 within the NFL this 12 months.

Why is there a Week 18 within the NFL this 12 months?

Again in March, the NFL house owners agreed to a brand new collective bargaining settlement (CBA) that had been signed the earlier 12 months. With this new settlement, the NFL season expanded to 17 video games from 16. The CBA runs by means of the 2030 season.

The preseason was modified from 4 video games to 3 video games this season, and groups nonetheless solely acquired one bye in the course of the common season. 

A lot of the symmetry established by the earlier NFL schedule mannequin disappeared this season. As an illustration, half the league had the benefit of getting 9 residence video games, whereas the opposite half had 9 highway video games scheduled. Additionally, every staff’s seventeenth recreation was decided by the divisional standings from the 12 months earlier than. For instance, groups that completed first final 12 months performed one another this season.

MORE: How many teams make the NFL playoffs?

When is Tremendous Bowl 2022?

The Tremendous Bowl is often held on the primary Sunday of February, however the seventeenth recreation this season was tacked onto the top of the schedule as a substitute of the start, so the Tremendous Bowl was pushed again per week.

The Tremendous Bowl was initially scheduled for Feb. 6, 2022; it is going to now happen on Feb. 13, 2022.

MORE: Updated 2022 NFL Draft order

Week 18 NFL schedule

The Week 18 video games will principally happen on Sunday, Jan. 9, with two video games on Saturday, Jan. 8. There will likely be no “Thursday Evening Soccer” or “Monday Evening Soccer.”

Saturday, Jan. 8

Sunday, Jan. 9