Benny Sieu-USA TODAY Sports
Monday Night Is a Must-Win Game for the Lions
Lions fans, if you want your squad to be recognized as "legit" by local and national NFL pundits alike, it's going to have to win Monday night against the Green Bay Packers.
Plain and simple, it's a must-win game for a Lions organization that suffered an excruciating loss in Week 4 against the Kansas City Chiefs and had a bye in Week 5 to try and forget about it.
And now comes the toughest matchup of the season yet -- a primetime matchup with the NFC North-leading Packers (4-1) at Lambeau Field on Monday Night Football.
While the Lions have won their last four meetings with the Pack, their level of success over the years against their division rivals still is underwhelming, especially at Lambeau.
To find out how underwhelming the results have been, check out a few of the more revealing stats below:
- The Packers are 25-3 against the Lions in the state of Wisconsin since 1992, including a 1994 playoff victory.
- According to Pro-Football-Reference.com, Green Bay has a 27-11 mark against Detroit since 2000, a .711 winning percentage that is tied with the Minnesota Vikings for the best winning percentage against the Lions for teams that have played Detroit 10-plus times within that span.
- The Pack have a 16-3 home record against Detroit since 2000.
- Green Bay quarterback Aaron Rodgers has led Green Bay to seven wins in nine starts at home against Detroit, throwing 17 touchdowns and just three interceptions.
Despite all of the aforementioned stats, I know there are still some Lions fans that will say the Lions' four-game win streak against Rodgers & the Pack is impressive, especially when you consider that it's happened over two seasons.
Sure, it is impressive because of the Lions' lackluster history against the Pack. And because whenever you sweep a season series against a division rival, it should increase your odds of winning your division.
However, consider this: the Lions haven't won the NFC North either of the last two seasons.
Instead, in 2017 and 2018, the Lions finished 9-7 and then a paltry 6-10, respectively.
In 2017, that was good for a third-place finish, and in 2018, the sub-.500 record amounted to a last-place finish for the Lions.
Then, there's this: In three of Detroit's past four victories against Green Bay, Rodgers has barely played or hasn't taken a single snap.
In fact, in last year's season finale between the two squads, Rodgers only attempted five passes before being pulled for DeShone Kizer by then-Packers interim head man Joe Philbin.
Yes, the Packers were led by an interim head coach at the time because longtime head man Mike McCarthy was let go earlier in the season amidst a disappointing campaign.
The Packers would go on to win six games, and simply, weren't a good team.
A season prior, much was the same for the Packers, as they finished with seven wins.
And Rodgers failed to play in both of Green Bay's contests with the Lions due to injury.
Career backup Brett Hundley started in those two games for the Pack.
If you haven't realized it yet, let me lay it out more precisely: The Lions haven't beaten a good Packers team the last two years.
And in three of the last four matchups, you can argue that the Lions have been the clear-cut better team because of Rodgers being hampered by injury.
Victories are hard to come by in the NFL ... unless you're playing the hapless 2019 rendition of the Miami Dolphins.
So, the Lions' success against Green Bay the past two years can't be completely discounted.
However, if the Lions beat what is a good Packers team on Monday night, they will gain far more respect from both local and national NFL analysts than they have for any of their last four victories against the Pack.
Lions fans, Monday night is a must-win for your franchise.
