“Go Pack Go”
The Detroit Lions are so close. In the history of the Super Bowl era, the Lions have never earned the top seed in the NFC. But by the end of this Monday night, the Lions may just find themselves in that situation.
Regardless of what happens in Week 17, the Lions can clinch the NFC North and the No. 1 seed by simply beating the Minnesota Vikings in the regular season finale. But why wait? Why leave it up to one single game outcome?
On Sunday, the Lions can find themselves one win away from clinching everything, giving them the opportunity to lock it up on the same field where their season ended last year: Levi’s Stadium against the San Francisco 49ers.
Let’s get into our Week 17 rooting guide.
The only game that really matters
Packers (11-4) at Vikings (13-2) — 4:25 p.m. ET — FOX
Who to root for: Packers
Go Pack Go pic.twitter.com/It4yy7OIyU
— Alex Reno (@alex_reno) December 29, 2024
If the Vikings lose and the Lions beat the 49ers, that’s it. The Lions are the NFC’s top seed and will get a first-round bye. Theoretically, it would give the Lions two bye weeks, because it would render their Week 18 game completely irrelevant. Dan Campbell may still want to keep some of his players fresh, but if he wanted, he could give his players a couple weeks to rest their bodies.
Green Bay doesn’t have a ton of motivation to win this game, as they’re already in the playoffs and can’t win the division, but the difference between the five and seven seeds could be pretty big—plus the Packers could still finish above the Vikings in seeding.
“All the motivation is right there,” Packers quarterback Jordan Love said this week. “ A division opponent. Obviously, they beat us the first game. We’re going into their place. We want to get some of that revenge that we’re looking for. So, there’s all the motivation in the world. Like you said, we’ve already clinched. We’re trying to go down there and handle business in the NFC North, which we dropped a couple games already this year. We need to go get a win.”
The game that only matters if something rare happens
Cowboys (7-8) at Eagles (12-3) — 1 p.m. ET — FOX
Who to root for: Cowboys
In almost every possible scenario, the Lions will finish the season with either the 1 seed or the 5 seed. The Eagles are irrelevant to either of those scenarios. But there is one remaining outcome that would leave the Eagles with the 1 seed and the Lions with the 2 seed. Here’s what would have to happen:
- Lions lose to 49ers
- Vikings lose to Packers
- Vikings and Lions tie in Week 18
- Eagles win out
In that instance, the Eagles would win the NFC at 14-3, while the Lions and Vikings would finish 13-3-1. Detroit would still take the tiebreaker over the Vikings and win the division, but the Eagles obviously have the better record and get the first-round bye.
If the Eagles lose either of their remaining games, there is no scenario in which the Lions win the NFC North but don’t get the first-round bye.
The “petty” rooting guide
These games carry no significant impact on the Lions’ playoff chances, but we root one way or the other because we’re petty.
Jets (4-11) at Bills (12-3) — 1 p.m. ET — CBS
Who to root for: 0-0 tie
Can’t root for Aaron Rodgers. Can’t root for one of the two teams who beat the Lions. I hope this game challenges Thursday night’s Bears/Seahawks contest as one of the worst games in NFL history. Rodgers and Josh Allen combine for 15 interceptions.
Panthers (4-11) at Buccaneers (8-7) — 1 p.m. ET — CBS
Who to root for: Panthers
Again, screw the teams that beat the Lions. This would be a critical loss to the Bucs because if they lose and the Falcons beat the Commanders, they would be eliminated from postseason contention.
Admittedly, a Panthers win is slightly bad for Detroit, too. Carolina is jockeying with the Bears for a high draft pick. So if you want to be extremely petty, hoping the Bears’ draft pick is as bad as possible, you want the following teams to lose this week:
- Giants
- Jaguars
- Titans
- Browns
- Raiders
- Jets
- Saints
Falcons (8-7) at Commanders (10-5) — 8:20 p.m. ET — NBC
Who to root for: Falcons
While I think it would be funny if the Eagles somehow blew their NFC East lead to the Commanders, quite frankly, I would rather the Falcons make the playoffs than the Buccaneers. I do not fear Atlanta even a little bit. Tampa beat Detroit. So let’s go Falcons!
