picture

ARLINGTON, Texas — The NFL regular season is turning down the stretch and the playoff picture is coming into focus, and that means not just the teams but the league’s scheduling crew is hard at work.

The Chargers, who play at Dallas on Sunday, can secure a postseason berth with a victory and some help from a team or two. Coupled with a win over the Cowboys, the Chargers need Las Vegas to win at Houston (unlikely) or San Francisco to win at Indianapolis (more likely) so they can rest easy knowing they’re at least in the playoffs for the second consecutive season under Jim Harbaugh.

Although the Rams have already qualified for the playoffs, they need to regain their balance after a spirit-snapping loss at Seattle on Thursday that likely cost them a chance at the NFC’s No. 1 seed.

Here’s a look at the upcoming schedule for the end of this season and beginning of next, along with decisions that need to be made:

— Why did the league schedule Houston at the Chargers for Saturday of Week 17?

The game was always a candidate for that 1:30 p.m. slot on NFL Network, and Seattle at Carolina was also under consideration.

The league liked Texans-Chargers on Saturday because both of those clubs likely will be playing in January — maybe against each other again — and if that game were moved to Sunday afternoon, it would be going head-to-head against Fox’s national game, Philadelphia at Buffalo, a potential Super Bowl preview.

So the NFL wanted to do the Texans and Chargers a solid and give them the national stage to themselves.

— Rams at Atlanta in Week 17 isn’t a fantastic Monday night game for Week 17, especially with the Falcons currently at 5-9. But with all the games spread throughout the week of Christmas, there weren’t a lot of great replacement options.

The league didn’t move Texans-Chargers into that slot for good reason. Because whoever plays in that “Monday Night Football” slot — it’s staying Rams-Falcons — won’t be a candidate for a Saturday game in the final weekend.

So by moving Texans-Chargers to Saturday, both those teams are in play for the two Saturday spots in Week 18. The Chargers finish at Denver, and the Texans play host to Indianapolis. Either or both of those games could wind up on ESPN for those finishing Saturday games.

— The NFL originally slated Cincinnati at Miami for this week’s Sunday night game but last week decided to move New England at Baltimore into that time slot. That’s notable because it’s the first flex of the season, which is an unusually low number. Typically, there have been three or four flexes to this point.

Why only one? There are multiple reasons. First, the league’s scheduling crew had a pretty clear crystal ball in May, a good idea for which teams would still be in the mix. Credit to those folks.

But the bar for flexing games is also a little higher than it used to be. The NFL is cautious about inconveniencing 75,000 fans for a relatively small bump in viewership. What’s more, with all the new windows and partners — Netflix, Amazon Prime, Peacock, Paramount+ — there are fewer games to go around. Even if the league wanted to flex, there are fewer options. The traditional Sunday inventory is a lot thinner than it used to be.

— It’s worth noting that the league’s philosophy on moving games around is it flexes out of a game that’s falling apart, it doesn’t flex into a better game because the network or streaming service doesn’t happen to like the game it has.

Cincinnati-Miami was a no-brainer flex candidate back in October when both teams were reeling. But then Joe Burrow came back for the Bengals, and the Dolphins started winning, and it got interesting for a while. But then Cincinnati got shut out last week by Baltimore, and Miami just benched its quarterback. Flex was back on.

So what to flex into? The thought was, yes, the NFL can move Patriots-Ravens into that Sunday window for NBC, and at least it can leave behind Kansas City-Tennessee for CBS. Everybody figured the Chiefs would be fighting for their postseason lives. That wasn’t the case. Kansas City was eliminated last week and lost Patrick Mahomes to a season-ending knee injury. Chiefs-Titans isn’t nearly as interesting as anticipated.

It could have been an ugly Sunday for CBS, but the network wound up with Pittsburgh-Detroit for its national game. That very easily could have been the far-less-tantalizing Buffalo at Cleveland.

— We’re heading into a postseason with no Kansas City, no Dallas, maybe no Baltimore or Pittsburgh — one of them is going to miss out — and with the rise of Chicago, possibly no Green Bay or Detroit.

A lot of those traditional anchor teams could be watching from their couches.

That means the NFL will have to make some new decisions about who to prioritize in postseason scheduling, perhaps looking with fresh eyes at clubs such as Seattle, Tampa Bay, Carolina, Jacksonville and others. Who are the ones with the most national appeal?

And that rolls into next season. How does the league dole out those big national windows. With Kansas City missing the playoffs, and Mahomes recovering from a major knee injury, do the Chiefs recede into the background after a decade of division titles and deep playoff runs?

Have the Bears broken through? They’re 10-4. At 12-2, Denver looks to be back and set up to keep it going. Heading into Thursday night’s game, the Rams were as hot as any team in the league, and the Chargers could finally get Justin Herbert that inaugural playoff victory.

The Steelers have won two in a row, and could wind up making a postseason run. If so, what does Aaron Rodgers do next season, and how will the club move forward?

The NFL leaned heavily into Washington after one outstanding season, giving them eight nationally televised games this season. That bet didn’t pay off; the Commanders are 4-10.

It’s the game behind the games, and those decisions are taking shape.

Miracles do still happen.

Ricki Lake took to Instagram on Monday to share the “craziest” story of how a stranger had found her old family photos “at a freaking flea market.”

“I can’t even process” this, the former talk show host says in the video. “My words are not coming.”

Lake, who lost her Malibu home in the Palisades fire in January, recounted how a couple of her friends had reached out to her Sunday night to let her know that someone had posted images of old photos featuring Lake and her son on social media and was trying to get in touch with her.

“I couldn’t believe what I was seeing because all of it was gone in the fire,” Lake says.

Patty Scanlon, the artist who had posted the images, joined Lake on Instagram Live to share how she stumbled upon the photos while looking for inspiration at the Pasadena City College Flea Market.

“It was like the universe drove me to get your pictures,” Scanlon says, explaining she found a box of photos at the first vendor she hit at the market and bought it for $20. “I opened the pictures and the first one I saw … I thought ‘Oh, I love that woman’s face.’”

The artist didn’t immediately recognize the woman in the photos, but as she looked through more of them she realized it was Lake and her son Milo, who is now 28, as a toddler. In addition to the photos, Scanlon found a letter that indicated Lake had mailed them as a thank-you for some gifts that were given to baby Milo.

“These pictures are so priceless to me,” Lake says. “They would be anyway … but the fact that I lost all of these images in the fire in January … I thought they were gone forever.”

“I had made peace,” she continues. “It was such a heartache and such a painful thing to come to terms with. That all of these memories are no longer in front of me. They’re just in my mind and heart now. But the fact that you found these is unbelievable.”

In the video, Scanlon hypothesizes that the box of photos probably ended up at the flea market after an estate sale and says she can’t believe what a “miracle” it was that she had found them after learning about how Lake had lost everything in the fires.

“I really cannot thank you enough for your generosity,” Lake says to Scanlon. “The fact that I’m going to get something back that I thought was lost forever … it makes me so happy.”

Some of the films will jump out faster than a Marvel reboot, but others will be much trickier to spot We’re confident we’ve cracked the lot – think you can beat us? Scroll down for the answers…

Think you’re a true movie buff? Time to put your bragging rights on the line – because this baffling brainteaser is about to weed out the pretenders from the real cinema geeks.

Hidden in the below picture – which we’ve teased above – are little nods to 27 iconic films. Some will jump out faster than a Marvel reboot, but others will be much trickier to spot.

The puzzle first popped up on the Latest Deals, Extreme Couponing & Bargains Facebook group, and has put even the most confident film fans through their paces. One admitted: “Apparently there are 27 films in this picture! I’ve not found all of them… can you?”

The 27 movies have been squeezed into one picture, each represented by a small detail, visual hint, or clever little signal. We’re confident we’ve cracked the lot. Think you can beat us? Scroll down for the answers — complete with pictures to prove it.

Full image and answers

1. Jumanji. This one’s painfully obvious and sits front and centre of the image.

2. Forrest Gump. Anyone who’s ever set foot in a cinema will recognise Tom Hanks from his starring role in the 1990s drama classic.

3. Terminator 2: Judgement Day. Arnie fans should remember his cyborg eye from the 1991 sci-fi sequel.

4. Gremlins. Tucked away under the bench sits one of the creatures from Joe Dante’s 1984 horror-comedy.

5. Edward Scissorhands. Another stark inclusion behind Tom Hanks is Johnny Depp’s character from Tim Burton’s 1990 movie.

6. E.T. This one is a bit trickier to spot and lingers in the background – the unforgettable bike scene from the Steven Spielberg classic.

7. Ghostbusters. Slimer from Ivan Reitman’s 1984 film Ghostbusters can be seen sneaking up on Tom Hanks behind the bench.

8. Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. The 1989 family adventure pops up with tiny characters sitting on the bottom right of the bench.

9. Space Jam. The sticker on the bench is a reference to the 1996 classic.

10. Pulp Fiction .The 1994 Tarantino classic is nodded to by John Travolta and Samuel L Jackson faintly positioned behind the Jumanji board.

11. Back to the Future .The hoverboard on the bottom left is taken from the sci-fi comedy classic.

12. Jurassic Park .Spielberg’s 1993 dinosaur blockbuster is referenced through the Barbasol shaving cream can on the right.

13. Wayne’s World .The 1992 comedy favourite is included via a sticker placed on the bench slat.

14. Hook .The 1991 family fantasy is hinted at by Captain Hook’s metal hook on the right-hand edge of the image.

15. Harry and the Hendersons .The 1987 creature-comedy appears as a Bigfoot figure lurking near the tree.

16. Home Alone. The 1990 Christmas classic is referenced with “Wet Bandits” carved onto the bench.

17. Predator .The 1987 action sci-fi film is signalled by writing on the bench nodding to its famous catchphrase.

18. Indiana Jones .The 1981 adventure classic is represented by the small golden idol near the bench leg.

19. Batman .The iconic franchise is referenced through the Wayne Enterprises logo on the chocolate box.

20. Short Circuit .The 1986 robot comedy shows up via Johnny 5 perched on the right edge of the image.

21. The NeverEnding Story .The 1984 fantasy adventure appears through the Auryn necklace hanging around his neck.

22. The Goonies .The 1985 cult adventure is referenced with a bronze medallion peeking from his jacket pocket.

23. The Last Action Hero .The 1993 action-comedy is hinted at by the “Admit One” golden ticket resting on the bench.

24. Titanic. Movie buffs should have spotted the heart-shaped necklace around Edward Scissorhands.

25. Dumb and Dumber .The 1994 comedy classic is visible through the two men riding the mini-motorbike on the right.

26. Mars Attacks! Tim Burton’s 1996 sci-fi parody appears with a Martian head visible in the top right.

27. The Big Lebowski. The cult comedy is referenced by a bowling-themed item tucked into the jacket pocket.