Week 17 – vs Dallas Cowboys (Thursday, December 25th, 1 p.m., Christmas Day, Netflix)

The Minnesota Vikings severely damaged the Dallas Cowboys playoff hopes with a 34-26 win in Arlington on "Sunday Night Football." J.J. McCarthy now has back-to-back games with three total touchdowns,

Each conference will have seven playoff teams: four division winners (No. 1 through No. 4) and three at-large teams, called wild cards (No. 5 through No. 7). The division winners are ranked by best record to worst and will each host at least one playoff game.

NFL schedule set up perfect Buccaneers, Panthers finish for NFC South standings originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here. The NFL schedule makers like to backlog the calendar with divisional matchups. But even then, there's no guarantee that those games will have any meaning.

The Vikings won their seventh consecutive game, pulling away from the Bears to win 30-12. Minnesota moved to 12-2, tying Detroit and Philadelphia for the best record in the conference, while Chicago fell to 4-10 with an eighth consecutive loss.

The NFL set its Week 17 schedule by setting up a Saturday doubleheader that could have a significant impact on the playoff picture.