Let's hope the best is yet to come, but while we wait for the Wild Card Weekend, let's take a look back at the top games from the 2017 regular season.
Editor's choice: Philadelphia Eagles 27, New York Giants 24 (Week 3)
The top-seeded Eagles had some other close games early -- losing a nail-biter to the Chiefsin Week 2 and escaping with a "road" win over the Chargersin Week 4 (in front of a pro-Eagles crowd at StubHub Center) -- but it was this game against the Giants that sent two franchises in opposite directions. Jake Elliott nailed the 61-yard game-winning field goal as time expired -- and NFL Films captured the moment when QB Carson Wentz said he'd give the rook his game check if he made it.
10) Cincinnati Bengals 31, Baltimore Ravens 27 (Week 17)
All right, there might be some recency bias at play here. When the NFL pushed every meaningful game into that second timing window, some scoffed. But it freaking worked. And the Ravens -- who, according to ESPN.com, had a 93.4 percent chance of making the playoffs just before Tyler Boyd's 49-yard touchdown reception on fourth-and-12 -- ended up on the outside looking in. The Billsended a playoff drought. And Marvin Lewis got an extension. What a world.
9) Kansas City Chiefs 42, New England Patriots 27 (Week 1)
The Patriots always slow-play the first quarter of the season, like revelers pacing themselves with domestic drafts early on New Year's Eve. But this was taking it a little too far, as the Chiefs set the tone for their early-season dominance with a 42-27 road win in the Kickoff Game. All the fantasy dorks (like me) who drafted Kareem Hunt were delighted with his monster debut.
8) Buffalo Bills 13, Indianapolis Colts 7 (Week 14)
It's a snow game. Be honest: Any time you're watching the pregame show and you see a snow game, you make sure to note the Sunday Ticket channel number, because you're going back to that one a lot. And shoot, you might not typically want a 7-7 game to go to overtime, but in this instance, we were all begging for it -- and maybe even a bit disappointed when LeSean McCoy raced 21 yards for the winner. (The postgame snow celebrations were great, as well.)
7) Jacksonville Jaguars 30, Pittsburgh Steelers 9 (Week 5)
Now, obviously, a 30-9 beatdown isn't normally going to make a list like this. But remember: The Jaguars have had some struggles in recent years. Fine, a lot of you jerks like to make fun of them. But here, even when a lot of you still failed to believe, the Jags went up to Pittsburgh and punched the bully in the mouth. So much so that Ben Roethlisberger even questioned his desire to play.
6) New Orleans Saints 34, Washington Redskins 31 (Week 11)
The Saints erased a 15-point fourth-quarter lead that had many scratching their heads, wondering what happened -- like a frat kid making his first trip to Bourbon Street. Drew Brees led two scoring drives in the final six minutes of the fourth-quarter and then finally put the Redskins out of their misery in overtime.
5) Oakland Raiders 31, Kansas City Chiefs 30 (Week 7)
The Raiders were no strangers to weird finishes -- shoutout to the Cowboys-Raiders game that didn't make the list (index card, anyone?) -- but this was wild. The final 23 seconds of the game featured three penalties, two touchdown overturnings, two untimed downs and -- finally -- a game-winning touchdown pass from Derek Carr to Michael Crabtree. Of course, the drama was in the NFL Network studios, where our camera spied David Carr's brotherly love during the final sequence.
4) Green Bay Packers 35, Dallas Cowboys 31 (Week 5)
Oh, man -- this one gets me misty for a time when both of these teams were considered title contenders. This was a raucous, back-and-forth contest that saw Dak Prescott pull the ball on a read option and take off on an 11-yard scamper to give the Cowboys the lead late. Which only meant Aaron Rodgers was going to break Dallas' heart again, like he did in the 2016 playoffs. This time he hit Davante Adams for the winner with 11 seconds left.
3) Pittsburgh Steelers 39, Baltimore Ravens 38 (Week 14)
These two teams' annual prime-time classic delivered once again. The Steelers jumped out to a 17-7 lead, then fell behind 31-20 in the third. The Ravens seemingly put it away on Buck Allen's touchdown in the fourth to make it 38-29. But Pittsburgh rallied for two late scores, including Chris Boswell's 46-yard field goal with 42 seconds left.
2) Los Angeles Rams 41, San Francisco 49ers 39 (Week 3)
I was thumbing through some of the "Games to Watch" lists heading into 2017, and few (more like none) spotlighted this Week 3 Thursday nighter. But 80 points and 839 total yards later, many were left wondering if they had watched the game of the year. The Rams led 41-26 halfway through the fourth quarter, but the 49ers rallied in a major way. Eventually, Aaron Donald fittingly put the game away with a sack. This game -- with all its wackiness and unexpected fun -- was a Christmas present in September for football fans.
1) New England Patriots 27, Pittsburgh Steelers 24 (Week 15)
Obviously, the big takeaway here was that the Patriots prevailed thanks to an unpopular -- but properly enforced -- rule. And really, Steelers fans, from the Immaculate Reception to Benny Barnes to Super Bowl XL, you've been on the right side of many controversial plays, so let it go. Focusing on Jesse James' touchdown/non-touchdown is unfair to Tom Brady, who rallied his team for 11 unanswered points in the last eight minutes of the game to snag the win.
Follow Adam Rank on Twitter @AdamRank.
