It’s the final week of the 2025-26 NFL regular season, but obviously not the end of these threads for this season and the future. There will be wild card, divisional, conference championship and Super Bowl threads, much like last year.

But I wanted an excuse to reference Tecmo Bowl, and its “final” football game.

I admit to having not played the 16-bit versions of Tecmo’s football games. Madden was eating everyone’s lunch with improved versions year after year, and the also-rans couldn’t compete, even if one did steal Troy Aikman’s brain that one time.

The original versions of Tecmo Bowl and Tecmo Super Bowl are timeless examples of football video games with instant playability. Even someone who isn’t a football fan can pick up the arcade-esque gameplay in a matter of moments. You can even download yearly ROM hacks of Tecmo Super Bowl with updated rosters, better AI, etc. Still no way to go for two though, unfortunately.

A Tecmo official at the time said the “final” in the title was to indicate it was the last 16-bit Tecmo Bowl the company would make – and it might as well been the last game for the franchise’s overall legacy. (There’s a version that was made on the PS1, and the fact I hadn’t heard of it until looking it up says a bunch. I’m also not going to count the DS remake because, come on.)

As for the modern day, Saturday starts us off with the Battle Of Someone Must Win The NFC South, followed by a duel of who gets to be the NFC’s top seed in the postseason. A reminder that Seattle has never played a normal game.

We then have a whole lot of (mostly) NOTHING on Sunday, outside of the night game. Regardless, I will be rooting for the Vikings to get over .500 despite a disaster of a season. This is even if the Packers, playing for nothing, start Clayton Tune because whatever. I hope the defense sacks him a dozen times. Because he stinks and he has a dumb name.

Enjoy this weekend of (mostly) nothing football by posting in the comments below! Always pray for chaos!