Lions Week 17 Rooting Guide
The playoff seeding implications are aplenty heading into the Lions’ penultimate game of the 2023 regular season.
The first order of business for Detroit is knocking off the Dallas Cowboys Saturday night. In the last meeting between the two teams (Week 7 of 2022), Dallas prevailed victorious, 24-6.
If the Lions are able to secure the victory this weekend, it would mark the Cowboys’ first home loss of the season. Presently, Dallas owns a 7-0 record at AT&T Stadium.
Detroit, which currently possesses the No. 3 seed in the NFC playoffs, can lock up the No. 2 seed by beating the Cowboys and the Vikings, respectively, in its final two games of the season. If Dan Campbell's squad does just that, it would then own the tiebreaker over the NFC East-leading Philadelphia Eagles.
Now, if the Lions were to lose to the Cowboys, their odds of capturing the No. 2 seed would significantly diminish.
They would then be relying on the reigning NFC champion Eagles to drop one of their last two games. Philadelphia plays the 3-12 Arizona Cardinals in Week 17, followed by the 5-10 N.Y. Giants in Week 18.
If Detroit drops its primetime tilt with Dallas, it would also then be relying on the Cowboys to fall to the lowly, 4-11 Washington Commanders in their regular season finale.
As you probably already realize, the above scenario would be very unlikely.
Subsequently, in a perfect world, the Lions would close out the regular season by knocking off both the Cowboys and the Vikings. It's by far the easiest path to wrapping up the No. 2 seed.
NFC Standings
1.) 49ers (11-4)
2.) Eagles (11-4)
3.) Lions (11-4)
4.) Buccaneers (8-7)
5.) Cowboys (10-5)
6.) Rams (8-7)
7.) Seahawks (8-7)
Rooting guide
Falcons at Bears (1 p.m. Sunday) -- Falcons
Saints at Buccaneers (1 p.m. Sunday) -- Buccaneers
Cardinals at Eagles (1 p.m. Sunday) -- Cardinals
Rams at Giants (1 p.m. Sunday) -- Giants
Panthers at Jaguars (1 p.m. Sunday) -- Jaguars
49ers at Commanders (1 p.m. Sunday) -- Commanders
Steelers at Seahawks (4:05 p.m. Sunday) -- Steelers
Packers at Vikings (8:20 p.m. Sunday) -- Packers