The Detroit Lions are on a four-game winning streak. They are 6-2 for the third time in the last four seasons. They are 2-0 in the division and tied in conference play for the best record against NFC opponents (4-1).
Yet they’re still stuck in third place in the division and sitting in sixth place in the NFL playoffs through Week 9 (with “Monday Night Football” still on hold).
It’s a frustrating situation, but the good news is that if the Lions can just continue to take care of business, everything is still ahead of them. Let’s take a closer look at the NFC playoff picture and what it means for the Lions.
The Bears and Packers not only won on Sunday, they looked pretty darn good. The Packers took down a Patriots team that was starting to look like an AFC Super Bowl contender. They had their first explosive offensive game of the season (45 points, 478 yards), and their defense was opportunistic with three interceptions and four sacks.
Meanwhile, the Bears jumped all over the Buccaneers early Sunday night. And while a game-high four interceptions from Caleb Williams kept the Bucs in the game late, his two-minute drill was all Chicago needed to put the game away.
The good news is that the Minnesota Vikings will have their hands full Monday night against the Buffalo Bills. If they lose this game, the Vikes will fall to third place in the division, technically tied with Detroit, but the Lions will have the head-to-head tiebreaker.
Wild Card leaders (top three advanced)
5. Bears: 7-2
6. Lions: 6-2
7. Packers: 6-3
8. Seahawks: 5-4
9. Rams: 5-4
10. Cowboys: 4-5
11. Saints: 3-5
12. Buccaneers: 3-6
13. Falcons: 3-6
14. Cardinals: 3-6
15. Commanders: 2-5-1
16. Eagles: 2-7
Miraculously, every NFC team ranked 1-11 won this week except for the Carolina Panthers (lost to the Broncos) and the Minnesota Vikings (who have yet to play). So not only did the Lions fail to climb any spots in the playoff race, they created no space between themselves and most of the teams behind them. They’re still 1.5 games ahead of the Seahawks and Rams — and neither team has been very convincing in their wins — but it’s still annoying to have such a good record and not feel completely secure in your playoff seeding. That said, it’s not that rare. The Cincinnati Bengals are in a somewhat similar situation within the AFC, holding an identical 6-2 record and the sixth seed.
Now, if the Vikings lose on Monday night, the Lions will move to fifth place, while the Bears will move to second place and Minnesota will fall to sixth place. Hopefully the football gods can offer at least one sacrifice this week.
Gn sports
