NFL TV Coverage Map Week 16: Full Breakdown of CBS, Fox Broadcasts

Liam McKeone | 1 Hour Ago

Aaron Rodgers and the Steelers will take on the Lions in Week 16. / Barry Reeger-Imagn Images

As Week 16 of the NFL season kicks off, the playoff picture is starting to take a firm shape.

The biggest difference for this year’s postseason versus previous iterations? The absence of the Chiefs. Kansas City has been a fixture in the AFC throughout the 2020s and haven’t missed the playoffs entirely since 2014. Yet Sunday’s loss to the Chargers and Patrick Mahomes’s torn ACL sealed the Chiefs’ fate—and ensured, for the first time since 2017, that the AFC championship game would take place somewhere other than Arrowhead. Meanwhile, the Broncos seem fated for the top seed and a bye. The Patriots and Bills still must settle the AFC East after Buffalo’s exciting comeback win in New England. And the wild card scene remains quite chaotic.

In the NFC the Rams and Seahawks will duke it out on Thursday night in a game that will go a long way in shaping the NFC playoff picture. The NFC North is still hotly contested between the Bears, Packers, and Lions. The Eagles and Buccaneers’ respective slides continues to puzzle and inspire further intrigue about how the playoffs will unfold.

Much must be settled before the postseason begins. Week 16’s slate will go a long way towards answering some of the more pressing questions about the playoff picture, although the schedule is funky; two games will be played on Saturday as part of Fox’s package for the week.

Let’s take a look at the coverage map for this week’s Sunday grouping of games.

What is an NFL coverage map?

Coverage maps show exactly what games will be broadcast where around the country on Sunday.

Each week, every non-primetime game (in other words, the games that aren't played on Thursday Night Football, Sunday Night Football, or Monday Night Football) is broadcast on either CBS or Fox at 1 p.m. ET or around 4 p.m. ET. This means fans everywhere will have at least two games shown on their screens every Sunday afternoon during the season.

Every team playing will have its game broadcast in its local market no matter what (i.e. the Cincinnati Bengals will always be on in Cincinnati). But that still leaves another game to be broadcast, which is assigned by the network. And in the case that the local team is playing during primetime or is on a bye week, there will still be a game broadcast in the window they'd normally play.

Ergo, the coverage map shows that: what teams will be shown in what cities when the local team is not playing. Maps are all courtesy of 506sports.

NFL coverage map Week 16

Fox single game window

Here's the coverage map for games being shown on Fox that kick off at 1 p.m. ET and 4:05 p.m. ET. Games kicking off at 4:05 p.m. ET are denoted as "LATE" on the key.

Fox Week 16 coverage map. / 506 Sports

Fox coverage map key

COLOR	GAME	PBP	ANALYST
Red	Chargers @ Cowboys	Adam Amin	Drew Brees
Green	Vikings @ Giants	Kenny Albert	Jonathan Vilma
Yellow	Buccaneers @ Panthers	Chris Myers	Mark Schlereth
Blue	Jaguars @ Broncos (LATE)	Kevin Kugler	Daryl Johnston
Orange	Falcons @ Cardinals (LATE)	Jason Benetti	Brady Quinn

CBS early game window

Here's the coverage map for games being shown on CBS that kick off at 1 p.m. ET.

CBS Week 16 coverage map for the early window. / 506 Sports

CBS early game window key

COLOR	GAME	PBP	ANALYST
Red	Bills @ Browns	Ian Eagle	J.J. Watt
Blue	Chiefs @ Titans	Kevin Harlan	Trent Green
Green	Bengals @ Dolphins	Spero Dedes	Adam Archuleta
Yellow	Jets @ Saints	Tom McCarthy	Ross Tucker

CBS late game window

CBS Week 16 coverage map for the late window. / 506 Sports

CBS late game window key

COLOR	GAME	ANALYST	PBP
Red	Steelers @ Lions	Jim Nantz	Tony Romo
Blue	Raiders @ Texans	Andrew Catalon	Charles Davis, Jason McCourty

Key NFL matchups in Week 16

As far as impact on the playoff picture, there are two massive matchups in Week 16: the Rams-Seahawks Thursday Night Football clash and the Buccaneers-Panthers matinee on Sunday.

Los Angeles and Seattle are tied at 11-3 entering Week 16 but the Rams currently own the tiebreaker thanks to their win over the Seahawks earlier in the year. If they can win again this week they’re all but certain to secure both the NFC West divisional crown and a first-round bye. But if the Seahawks win, neither team will own a head-to-head tiebreaker, which will make things very interesting over the final two weeks of the year in the NFC.

The Bucs-Panthers game in Carolina will also likely decide the division winner. Tampa Bay and Carolina are 7-7 coming into Sunday and will play each other twice in the final three weeks. Whoever wins on Sunday will gain a huge advantage in the push to win the division, which is the only way either .500 team will make the playoffs given how crowded the NFC wild card picture is. To top it all off, neither side enters the game with much momentum. The Bucs have lost two straight in painful fashion and the Panthers, with a chance to take a one-game lead for the NFC South title, blew a winnable contest against th Saints. Someone has to win on Sunday and if there’s any hope the division will be well-represented in the postseason someone has to break out of their current funk, too.

It will be an enjoyable slate. Have fun watching!

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