Week 17 referee assignments

The games of Week 17 will all be played on Sunday. The regular season will come to a close with referee Bill Vinovich — who closed out last year’s postseason in the Super Bowl — as the Vikings and the Packers battle for the NFC North title. Games are grouped generally by the impact they have on the playoffs. Teams in italics are seeking a playoff berth. Jerome Boger’s crew and, individually, Jeff Triplette are off this week. (Boger and Triplette swapped bye weeks.)

Sunday, Jan. 3

Games with division title implications

• Raiders at Chiefs — Tony Corrente
• Chargers at Broncos — Ron Torbert
• Vikings at Packers NBC — Bill Vinovich

Games for wild card berth

• Jets at Bills — Walt Anderson
• Steelers at Browns — Pete Morelli

Games for top seed positions

• Patriots at Dolphins — Ed Hochuli
• Ravens at Bengals — Carl Cheffers
• Seahawks at Cardinals — Brad Allen
• Buccaneers at Panthers — Jerome Boger (with Jeff Triplette’s crew)

(also includes Broncos)

No playoff implications

• Jaguars at Texans* — Terry McAulay
• Titans at Colts* — Clete Blakeman
• Washington at Cowboys — John Parry
• Eagles at Giants — Gene Steratore
• Lions at Bears — John Hussey
• Saints at Falcons — Craig Wrolstad
• Rams at 49ers — Walt Coleman

*-Note: Texans are relatively assured of winning the division, although there are playoff implications for Colts in specific 9-game scenario.

End of the regular season

From Football Zebras editor Ben Austro

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