And it all comes down to this. The regular season’s final week features 16 different games between 16 different division rivals. The Vikings and Cowboys are both in the playoffs with wins, but those wins won’t come easily. Meanwhile the Packers and Texans can lock up byes with victories. The Patriots look to go perfect against AFC opponents, the Eagles and Chargers look to win games in their head coaches’ likely last contests, and Calvin Johnson looks to become the first wide receiver to surpass the 2,000-yard mark in NFL history. All that and more. Here are Peter Schrager's top 10 Storylines for Week 17:

Tony Romo’s thrown 17 touchdowns and just 3 interceptions in the Cowboys’ last 8 games. He pulled his team back from a 14-point deficit in the final three minutes of regulation against the Saints and nearly willed his team to an improbable victory. He’s playing behind a battered offensive line and on a team that’s missing five defensive starters on the other side of the ball. But guess what? None of that will matter if he lays an egg Sunday night in Washington. If Dallas comes out and plays the type of Week 17 game they played last year in New York or in 2008 in Philadelphia — two season-ending losses in which Romo did not have his best nights — the same old tired clichés about Romo “not being able to win the big one” will carry on for yet another NFL season. It’s the burden of being an NFL quarterback. When you win big games, you’re untouchable. Alas, when you lose them — it’s on you, too. So, what’s it going to be, Mr. Romo?

Last season, the Chiefs played the Broncos in Week 17 and Kansas City won 7-3. Of course, Tim Tebow — not Peyton Manning — was the starting quarterback for Denver, and Kyle Orton — not Brady Quinn — was the starting quarterback for the Chiefs. In one of the real anomalies of the 2012 AFC Pro Bowl team, the Chiefs had more than twice as many players elected to the team (5) than they did wins (2) this season. Don’t think Denver is going to lay down on Sunday. Manning and the Broncos, winners of 10 straight games, do not want to enter the playoffs fresh off a loss. They also don’t want to lose that first round bye.

Following Sunday’s nail-biter of a win over Jacksonville (2-13), Tom Brady reportedly lashed out on his teammates in the locker room. According to multiple reporters who covered the game, Brady could be heard screaming in the hallways after the Patriots’ 23-16 victory, unhappy with the team’s effort for the second consecutive week. New England needs go out and win this one, as a victory paired with a Houston loss in Indianapolis, would secure a first round bye and a divisional round home game. Don’t be shocked if the team comes out sizzling; on both sides of the ball.

Though we’re all guilty of getting swept up in Adrian Peterson’s pursuit of Eric Dickerson’s single-season rushing record of 2,105 yards the past few weeks, it all takes a backseat to the Vikings just getting a win on Sunday. Peterson could rush for 10 yards and Vikings fans will be doing flips if they end up with more points than the Packers this weekend. The Packers' current four-game winning streak began with a 23-14 home victory over Minnesota on Dec. 2, of course, in a game in which they overcame 210 yards from Peterson. Two-hundred and eight yards on Sunday would break Dickerson’s record. But again, it’s not about that. Really, it isn’t. I swear.

Losers of seven straight games and four in a row at Ford Field, the Lions are playing for little more than pride at this point. But they’re also playing for NFL history. Calvin Johnson — already the single-season record holder for receiving yards in a season — can become the first NFL wideout to break 2,000 yards in a season with a 108-yard game. He’s historically had his struggles against the Bears’ cornerbacks and Chicago’s playing for their playoff lives. That means Johnson will probably only break 2,000 in the second quarter. If last Saturday night’s game was any indication, Matt Stafford is going to make sure Johnson gets to the 2K mark. It’s not a matter of if, but when.

Crazy? Not as much as it may seem on the surface. For the second straight season, Lovie Smith’s Bears collapsed in the second half of the year. In 2011, they shot out of the gates with a 7-3 record, only to finish 8-8 and miss the playoffs. This offseason, they went out and surrounded Jay Cutler with two new big receivers in Brandon Marshall and Alshon Jeffery, acquired a sturdy veteran backup in Jason Campbell and beefed up the special teams with a do-everything guy in Eric Weems. Sure enough, after an outstanding 7-1 start, the Bears are just 2-5 in their last seven games. Lovie Smith has one year left on his contract and Phil Emery — the Bears’ new GM — is not the man who hired him. If Chicago beats Detroit, gets a little help and makes the playoffs, it delays the coaching search a few weeks and likely saves Smith’s job for 2013. If they lose to a Lions team that enters this one losers of seven straight, well, don’t be shocked if you hear Smith’s name mentioned on Black Monday morning.

The stakes are a little different, of course, but Arizona has come from nowhere to shock a team that needed a Week 17 win before. The year was 2003, the opponents were the Minnesota Vikings, and the name that haunts Vikings fans still to this day is Nathan Poole. An unknown receiver, Poole caught five passes for 86 yards that day, including a game-winning and season-ending (for Minnesota) 28-yard touchdown catch with no time left on the clock. Make no mistake, this Arizona defense is for real. And with Justin Smith still not back in the lineup, we have no idea which San Francisco defense we’re going to get. The 49ers need to win to still have a shot at the No. 2 seed. But don’t be shocked if a Nathan Poole — or, I don’t know, a Larry Fitzgerald — puts a wrinkle in that plan.

It sure has been fun, hasn’t it? A 2012 Jets season that really started with a press conference for a backup quarterback in March, featured a week of breathless ESPN coverage from training camp, and has seen two quarterbacks — neither named Tebow — start games this season, is finally coming to an end on Sunday. If there’s one team that the Jets have looked better than the past few weeks, it’s the Bills. It’s amazing to think that we all thought this game meant something in Week 1. Sixteen weeks later, it could be the least enticing game on the schedule. “How low can you go?” is the theme. Based on what we’ve seen from both teams this month, the answer appears to be “lower.”

The Broncos and Patriots will be keeping their eyes on what’s going on in Indianapolis on Sunday. They’re not the only ones. You better believe CBS and NBC — the two networks airing the AFC’s Divisional Round games — will be checking the score of Sunday’s Texans-Colts game early and often. If Houston wins, the Texans lock up the No. 1 seed in the AFC, leaving either Denver or New England with a wild-card round game for the networks to pounce on (yes, Tom Brady and Peyton Manning are still huge TV tickets). However, if Indianapolis wins, things get interesting. With wins, the Broncos move to the No. 1 seed, the Patriots move to the No. 2 seed, and Houston gets the 3. Instead of Brady or Manning, CBS and NBC are left with less desirable games involving Baltimore, Indianapolis, Cincinnati and Houston. Oh, who are we kidding? We’re all going to watch, Tom Brady or not.

It’s hard to get too sentimental over two NFL coaches with long tenures and zero Super Bowl rings being shown the door, but there were definitely some good times for Andy Reid in Philadelphia and Norv Turner in San Diego. The Chargers beat Peyton Manning and the Colts twice in the playoffs, while Andy Reid got his Eagles to six NFC Championship games. If Sunday marks the end of both men’s times as head coaches in their respective NFL cities, I at least hope their teams give it their all. The Chargers should beat the Raiders, giving Turner three wins in his last four games, and I have a sneaky suspicion the Eagles — with a fresh Michael Vick and a fresh LeSean McCoy — are going to give the Giants a game in the Meadowlands this weekend.