Getty Aaron Rodgers shakes hands with a referee before a 2019 game against the Lions.
The Detroit Lions are getting set for their most important game of the season on Sunday night against the Green Bay Packers, and the pressure is starting to mount.
This contest is a game the Lions have lost a lot in their history, and the team might find making the playoffs a challenge unless the Los Angeles Rams pull a major upset in Week 18 themselves against Seattle.
Still, though, the Lions have enough firepower to win the game on their own no matter what happens and ruin a playoff dream for Green Bay. That could set up a situation where the Lions are playing with house money.
After Week 17, Bleacher Report was putting together some of their biggest takeaways, and the top headline from Maurice Moton revolved around the tough challenge they would face from the Lions
“Like Green Bay, Detroit can rack up points and force turnovers. Going into Sunday’s contests, the Lions fielded the fifth-ranked scoring offense. They’ve registered a takeaway in all but two games this season. Though Detroit needs help to sneak into the postseason, it is good enough to keep Green Bay out,” Moton concluded in the piece.
The Lions are peaking at the right time, and only lost twice since Thanksgiving. They just completed a 41-10 drubbing of Chicago, and are pairing an elite offense with a much more opportunistic defense that racks up sacks and takeaways.
Combine that with the thought that nobody figured they’d be in position to potentially steal a playoff bid or ruin the season of their top rival and that makes them a very dangerous foe for a final game, indeed.
It could put plenty of pressure on a Green Bay team that’s been average to below average most of this season.
Packers Analyst: Lions a Scary Matchup
Last week, the Packers played Minnesota, who won the NFC North and has been one of the top teams in the conference all season long.
Even though that was the case, many see the battle against the Lions as the most scary matchup the team will face between the two sides. Analyst Peter Bukowski was taking a look at the matchup and pointed out as good as the Packers have been lately in terms of the DVOA metric, the Lions have been just a bit better.
“The Lions are much scarier to me than the Vikings were for Green Bay. Since Week 10 when Christian Watson fundamentally altered the trajectory of the Packers, they are 6th in DVOA. The Lions are 4th, and that’s WITH a beat down at the hands of the Panthers,” Bukowski wrote in a tweet.
Certainly, the Lions have turned their season around and managed to catch fire. They are a different team than the one that was 1-6 at one point this season and looking like a lost cause. They might be different than the team that beat Green Bay 15-9 in November, as well.
Lions-Packers Has Major Playoff Implications
The league didn’t waste any time revealing the playoff scenarios for the final week of the season, and Twitter user Honolulu Blues showed off what the situation is for the team.
For Detroit, the situation is simple. Win on the road and get some help in Seattle.
Here’s what has to happen
As the tweet shows, the Lions would need to win the game and also have the Seattle Seahawks lose to the Los Angeles Rams. Safe to say there isn’t great odds of this event playing out, but the good news is, the Lions still have a chance. The term “any given Sunday” certainly applies in this situation.
Whether the Lions make the playoffs or not, their presence could still prove to be a nightmare for Aaron Rodgers and the Packers, who are trying to finish off an improbable climb back to the playoffs.