NFL Week 18: How to Watch Seahawks vs. 49ers, Ravens vs. Steelers and More Games From Anywhere
SOURCE:CNET|BY:Matt Elliott
See which teams are playing on Saturday, the full TV schedule for the final weekend of the regular season and the best ways to watch or stream any of the games.
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See which teams are playing on Saturday, the full TV schedule for the final weekend of the regular season and the best ways to watch or stream any of the games.
Matt Elliott Senior Editor
Matt Elliott is a senior editor at CNET with a focus on laptops and streaming services. Matt has more than 20 years of experience testing and reviewing laptops. He has worked for CNET in New York and San Francisco and now lives in New Hampshire. When he's not writing about laptops, Matt likes to play and watch sports. He loves to play tennis and hates the number of streaming services he has to subscribe to in order to watch the various sports he wants to watch.
Kevin Lynch is a London-born, Dublin-based writer and journalist. The author of Steve Jobs: A Biographic Portrait, Kevin is a regular feature writer for a number of tech sites and the former Technology Editor for the Daily Mirror. He has also served as editor of GuinnessWorldRecords.com and has been a member of the judging panel for the BAFTA British Academy Video Game Awards.
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The final week of the regular season starts with a pair of games on Saturday, each with playoff implications. First up, the Carolina Panthers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers play with the NFC South title at stake. For the Panthers, it's simple: A win secures the division. The Bucs, meanwhile, need a win plus a Falcons loss. Next up, the Seattle Seahawks and San Francisco 49ers face off for the NFC West crown and No. 1 seed in the NFC.
On Sunday, some playoff positioning will be decided in the afternoon games before we get to Sunday Night Football that will complete the 14-team playoff field. The Baltimore Ravens and Pittsburgh Steelers play in the final regular season game of the 2025 NFL season, with the winner taking the AFC North title and the loser going home.
Both games on Saturday will be broadcast nationally on ABC and ESPN, and the Ravens-Steelers game on Sunday night will air nationally on NBC and stream on Peacock. Keep reading to see all of the week 18 matchups, the full TV schedule for the weekend and the best ways to watch or stream any game no matter where you live.
Brock Purdy and the San Francisco 49ers host the Seattle Seahawks on Saturday night to decide the NFC West title and the No. 1 seed in the conference.
Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images
How to watch NFL Week 18 from anywhere using a VPN
If you find yourself less interested in the Sunday afternoon games on CBS and Fox that are being broadcast in your area or your access is blocked because of an internet location glitch or incorrectly applied blackout restrictions, you have another option to watch another game that doesn't require subscribing to something like NFL Sunday Ticket or NFL Plus or searching the internet for a sketchy website: You can use a virtual private network. With a VPN, you can watch any of Sunday's games from anywhere.
With a VPN, you're able to virtually change your location on your phone, tablet or laptop to get access to the game. A VPN is also the best way to stop your ISP from throttling your speeds on game day by encrypting your traffic. Plus, it's a great idea for when you're traveling and find yourself needing to connect to a public Wi-Fi network, where you'll want to add an extra layer of privacy for your devices and logins.
So if your internet provider or mobile carrier has stuck you with an IP address that incorrectly shows your location in a blackout zone, a VPN can correct that problem by giving you an IP address in your correct, nonblackout area. Most VPNs, like our Editors' Choice, ExpressVPN, make it really easy to do this.
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Using a VPN to watch or stream sports is legal in any country where VPNs are legal, including the US and Canada, as long as you have a legitimate subscription to the service you're streaming. You should be sure your VPN is set up correctly to prevent leaks. Even where VPNs are legal, the streaming service may terminate the account of anyone it deems to be circumventing correctly applied blackout restrictions.
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Plan out your weekend football viewing
Week 18 gets started with two nationally televised games on Saturday.
NFL Week 18 Saturday schedule
Away Team
Home Team
Time (all times ET)
TV channel
Streaming service
Carolina Panthers
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
4:30 p.m.
ABC/ESPN
ESPN Unlimited
Seattle Seahawks
San Francisco 49ers
8 p.m.
ABC/ESPN
ESPN Unlimited
The Sunday slate gets started with six games at 1 p.m. ET (10 a.m. PT) followed by seven games in the late window on CBS and Fox, before we then get to the Sunday night game on NBC and Peacock. Check out the 506 Sports coverage map to see which Sunday games are being shown in your area.
NFL Week 18 Sunday schedule
Away Team
Home Team
Time (all times ET)
TV channel
Streaming service
Green Bay Packers
Minnesota Vikings
1 p.m.
CBS
Paramount Plus
Cleveland Browns
Cincinnati Bengals
1 p.m.
CBS
Paramount Plus
Indianapolis Colts
Houston Texans
1 p.m.
CBS
Paramount Plus
New Orleans Saints
Atlanta Falcons
1 p.m.
Fox
Fox One
Dallas Cowboys
New York Giants
1 p.m.
Fox
Fox One
Tennessee Titans
Jacksonville Jaguars
1 p.m.
Fox
Fox One
New York Jets
Buffalo Bills
4:25 p.m.
CBS
Paramount Plus
Los Angeles Chargers
Denver Broncos
4:25 p.m.
CBS
Paramount Plus
Kansas City Chiefs
Las Vegas Raiders
4:25 p.m.
CBS
Paramount Plus
Washington Commanders
Philadelphia Eagles
4:25 p.m.
CBS
Paramount Plus
Detroit Lions
Chicago Bears
4:25 p.m.
Fox
Fox One
Arizona Cardinals
Los Angeles Rams
4:25 p.m.
Fox
Fox One
Miami Dolphins
New England Patriots
4:25 p.m.
Fox
Fox One
Baltimore Ravens
Pittsburgh Steelers
8:20 p.m.
NBC
Peacock
How to watch NFL Week 18 in the US
If you don't want to subscribe to a live TV streaming service, you can watch the CBS games with Paramount Plus, the Fox games with Fox One and the NBC games with Peacock. And you can stream both games on Saturday with ESPN's direct-to-consumer streaming service.
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ESPN
ESPN DTC comes in two flavors. The ESPN Unlimited plan costs $30 a month (or $300 a year) and lets you stream all ESPN linear networks: ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPNews, ESPN Deportes, SEC Network and ACC Network. You also get access to programming on ESPN on ABC, ESPN Plus, ESPN3, SECN Plus and ACCNX. You'll need the Unlimited plan to watch Panthers-Bucs and Seahawks-Niners on Saturday.
(There is also a $12 a month ESPN Select plan that is like a rebranding of ESPN Plus. It offers you access to thousands of live games — including small college conferences, whose games you can't watch anywhere else — but not the NFL.)
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Football fans can stream CBS' Sunday afternoon football schedule each week of the season on Paramount Plus with its $8 per month Essentials tier. You can check for yourself if your area has live CBS streaming here.
Fox's new direct-to-consumer streaming service costs $20 a month or $200 a year and lets NFL fans watch their local Sunday afternoon games on Fox. You'll also get access to Fox's complete TV portfolio, including sports-related channels such as Fox Sports, B1G, FS1, FS2 and local Fox stations.
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With Peacock's $11-per-month Premium plan, you can watch the Ravens-Steelers game on Sunday night. Read our Peacock review.
Best live TV streaming services for NFL fans
While subscribing to Paramount Plus, Fox One and Peacock is cheaper than a live TV streaming service, the advantage of the latter is the ability to flip quickly between CBS and Fox on Sunday afternoon when two games are on at the same time. Shutting down one streaming service and firing up another is much slower and more annoying, to the point that it's not worth flipping to the other game during a commercial break of the one you're watching.
The good news for football fans is that CBS and Fox are available on most live TV streaming services, along with NBC, ABC, ESPN and NFL Network for SNF, MNF and the NFL's international games.
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DirecTV
DirecTV's MySports plan costs $70 a month and includes ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC and NFL Network, which are the main channels you need to watch NFL games on Thursday, Sunday and Monday each week of the season. You can't get the RedZone add-on with the MySports plan; you will need to subscribe to the full $85-a-month package and then add RedZone for an extra $15 a month.
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Sarah Tew/CNET
YouTube TV carries all the channels needed to watch the NFL and costs $83 a month, and you can add RedZone for an extra $11 per month. Plug in your ZIP code on YouTube TV's welcome page to see which local networks are available in your area.
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Fubo
Fubo's main package costs $85 per month and includes ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC and NFL Network. You can also add RedZone for an extra $11 per month.
Fubo has a new skinny bundle that includes most of the channels you need for the NFL. This new Fubo Sports plan costs $56 per month ($46 for the first month) and includes all the above channels except NBC for Sunday Night Football. It also includes access to ESPN's new streaming app. It's worth noting that the bundle is only available in certain regions at the moment, with a gradual rollout across the country.
All the live TV streaming services above allow you to cancel anytime. They do require a solid internet connection. Looking for more information? Check out our live TV streaming services guide.
Quick tips for streaming the NFL with a VPN
With four variables at play -- your ISP, browser, video streaming provider and VPN -- experience and success may vary.
If you don't see your desired location as a default option for ExpressVPN, try using the "search for city or country" option.
If you're having trouble accessing the game after turning on your VPN and setting it to the correct viewing area, you can try two quick fixes. First, log in to your streaming service subscription account and ensure the address registered for the account is within the correct viewing area. If not, you may need to change the physical address on file with your account. Second, some smart TVs, like Roku, don't have VPN apps you can install directly on the device itself. Instead, you'll need to install the VPN on your router or the mobile hotspot you're using (such as your phone) so that any device connected to its Wi-Fi network now appears in the correct viewing location.
All the VPN providers we recommend have helpful instructions on their main site for quickly installing the VPN on your router. In some cases with smart TV services, after installing a cable network's sports app, you'll be asked to verify a numeric code or click a link sent to the email address on file for your smart TV. This is where having a VPN on your router can also be helpful, as both devices will appear to be in the correct location.
And remember, browsers can often give away a location despite using a VPN, so be sure you're using a privacy-first browser to log into your services. We normally recommend Brave.
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