When is Football Nation America going to realize it's been played for fools again?

So, the bulk of Week 16 is in the books.

And what do we have here, but a set-up for a Week 17 that, well, is everything you know the NFL to be...

It appears that, as of kickoff of the first games, 12 of the 16 games will have meaning, significant meaning.

Why?  Because the league and Roger Goodell want you to...

• It's bad enough when the Green Bay Packers commit a jump offside to force to give up a score to go down 38-31 to the Steelers on the one end of the field with about 90 seconds to go.  It's worse when, after a 70-yard kickoff return, your last gasp is left wanting at the six-yard line because of a false start!
• It's even WORSE when you realize that it was clear that it meant more to the NFL for Pittsburgh to win (even after they got screwed on a call earlier in the game) than for Green Bay to win OR lose.
• ... especially after they consummated it by having Chicago (only needing to beat Philadelphia in the Sunday nighter to win the division and a wild-card home game) lay down to Philly 54-11!!!
• The kicker:  The NFL announced that it was not only flexing, for at least the third year in a row, the NFC East title tilt (this year, between Philadelphia and Dallas) to the Sunday night prime-time spot, but they also were flexing Green Bay vs. Chicago to the 4 PM slot for the national Game of the Week.  The problem:  They did this at HALFTIME OF THE GAME IN WHICH CHICAGO COULD WIN AND WIN THE DIVISION!!!  (Brian Tuohy tipped his followers off to that on his Twitter Sunday night.)

There are many other stories from Week 16 that would leave you scratching your head, but this is what it leaves us for Week 17...

• The only two meaningless games in the NFC next week are:  Washington vs. the Giants and Detroit vs. Minnesota.
• NFC East:  Philly-Dallas in the Sunday nighter for the division, win or go home.
• NFC North:  Green Bay-Chicago flexed to the national 4 PM game, for the division, win or go home.
• NFC South:  Carolina-Atlanta, New Orleans-Tampa.  New Orleans is in with a win, but needs a Carolina loss to win the division.  Carolina wins, it wins the South and at least the 2 seed.
• NFC West:  Seattle-St. Louis, San Francisco-Arizona (with San Francisco-Atlanta Monday night this week).  Seattle gets home field throughout with a win.  Lose, and San Francisco wins the division with two wins.  One win (either game) for San Francisco, gets them in the playoffs.

This brings up the following absurd scenario.

• San Francisco defeats Atlanta Monday night.
• New Orleans defeats Tampa Bay next Sunday.
• Later on on Sunday, Arizona then defeats San Francisco.

In that event, Arizona makes NFL history:  The first team to win eleven games in a regular season and be ELIMINATED from the playoffs.

This is made even more absurd by the fact Green Bay can get a home game by winning -- and finishing 8-7-1.

The NFC East isn't much better.

And then the AFC situation makes it completely ridiculous.  All four divisions are settled, as is one wild-card.

However, most of the games are still important:

• AFC home-field:  New England-Buffalo, Denver-Oakland.  Denver gets the 1 seed with a win, New England gets it if Denver loses and they win.  (Denver has clinched the division and a first-round bye regardless.)
• However, if New England loses, enter Jacksonville-Indianapolis and Baltimore-Cincinnati (the latter of which will come up again in a moment.  If either Indy or Cincy win, they get the 2 in that event.  If both do, Cincinnati gets dibs.
• And then we get to the last wild-card...  This is where Pittsburgh winning today was important.

Because now you have this mess...

• In the AFC East:  Miami is 8-7, the Jets are 7-8.  The two play each other in Week 17.
• In the AFC North:  Baltimore is 8-7, Pittsburgh is 7-8.  Baltimore plays division champion Cincinnati, Pittsburgh plays Cleveland.
• In the AFC West:  San Diego is 8-7, and plays Kansas City.

So put this all together:

• The Jets beat Miami.
• Cincinnati beats Baltimore and Pittsburgh beats Cleveland.
• Kansas City beats San Diego.

All the more plausible because all but the Jets of these winners in this scenario will probably be favored.

And what does that mean?  5 teams for the #6 at 8-8, and the current scenario machine has Pittsburgh going through.

So, in the AFC, entering play, only ONE GAME (Houston vs. Tennessee) will be worth nothing.

In final analysis, and regardless of the result Monday night, only THREE of the final 17 games in the NFL regular season will mean nothing.

Just like @nflcommish would want it.