For 7th time since 1970 merger, slate features 1 matchup of winners

This is not exactly a winning weekend of NFL football coming up.

The Monday night matchup between Buffalo (12-3) and Cincinnati (11-4) is the only one in Week 17 that features two teams with winning records.

That marks just the seventh time since the 1970 merger that one of the final two weeks of the season featured one or fewer matchup with winning teams, according to Sportradar.

The last time it happened was in Week 16 of the 2011 season when Atlanta (9-5) faced New Orleans (11-3). There was also only one matchup of winning teams in Week 16 of the 2009 season, Week 17 of 2003, Week 16 of 2001 and Week 16 of 1990.

There was also one week this late in the season that had no matchups of winning teams, coming in Week 16 of the 2007 season.

In all, 11 teams have winning records with two weeks to go. This is the fewest winning teams after 16 weeks since 1985, when 11 of the 28 teams finished with winning records.

The previous low of winning teams through 16 weeks since the league expanded to 32 teams in 2002 was 14, happening in 2004, 2007 and 2015.

Less than 1 and done

Nathaniel Hackett joined a short list of coaches who failed to finish their first season.

Hackett was fired by Denver with two weeks to go in the season. This marks the second straight season a first-year coach was fired before the end of the season, with Jacksonville doing it to Urban Meyer in 2021.

The other coaches since the merger who didn’t finish their first season were Bobby Petrino (2007 Falcons), Pete Mcculley (1978 49ers) and Lou Holtz (1976 Jets).

Petrino and Holtz left on their own for college jobs, with Mcculley joining Hackett and Meyer as the only ones to be fired.

The Broncos are also assured of missing the playoffs for a seventh straight season since winning the Super Bowl following the 2015 campaign — the longest playoff drought ever following a Super Bowl win.