Week 18 fifth quarter: Lions pummel Vikings to take NFC, Bucs secure NFC South & Patriots fire Jerod Mayo

The 2024 NFL regular season is finally in the books and the blockbuster Sunday night finale between the Detroit Lions and Minnesota Vikings was a bit more lopsided than anticipated. Jared Goff and the Lions secured an overwhelming 31-9 victory in which Jahmyr Gibbs scored 4 touchdowns and the Vikings offense never got comfortable. Nate Tice and Charles McDonald break down the biggest storylines from the end of Week 18, leading off with Detroit securing both the NFC North crown and home field advantage through the playoffs. Next, they talk about the Denver Broncos blowing out the Kansas City Chiefs backups in order to punch their ticket into the AFC playoffs and how this came at the expense of the Cincinnati Bengals, who beat the Pittsburgh Steelers on Saturday. In the latter half of the show, the guys check in on the NFC South, where the Tampa Bay Buccaneers secured another division title and the Atlanta Falcons blowing a game in overtime to the Carolina Panthers. In a surprisingly swift bit of news, the New England Patriots fired head coach Jerod Mayo after just a single season after he had reportedly been the head coach in waiting for a number of years. Charles and Nate criticize the Patriots ownership and front office with the decision making and wonder if Mike Vrabel or Ben Johnson could be the next HC in Foxboro. Closing out the show, the run through some quick topics including the Tennessee Titans securing the top pick in this April's NFL draft, Trey Lance getting the start in Dallas over Cooper Rush and Tanner McKee looking solid in relief of Jalen Hurts in a Philadelphia Eagles win over the Giants. (0:32) - Detroit Lions soundly win NFC North (13:20) - Broncos get AFC 7th seed over Bengals & Dolphins (27:15) - Buccaneers secure NFC South, another Falcons flameout (41:25) - New England Patriots fire HC Jerod Mayo (48:50) - Quick hits: Titans, Eagles, Trey Lance 🖥️ Watch this full episode on YouTube Check out the rest of the Yahoo Sports podcast family at https://apple.co/3zEuTQj or at Yahoo Sports Podcasts Subscribe to Football 301 on your favorite podcast app: 🎧 Apple Podcasts 🎧 Spotify 🖥️ YouTube 📢 Check out the Yahoo Sports podcast network or yahoosports.tv