We interrupt your Frank Ragnow celebration with this huge NFC North showdown on Thanksgiving Day. While we’re all excited that Detroit’s All-Pro center is back, he likely won’t take the field for at least a couple weeks. In the meantime, the Lions have a playoff race to concern themselves with, and Thursday’s game against the Green Bay Packers is the biggest game of the season to date.
Currently, both teams sit behind the Chicago Bears in the NFC North standings:
- Bears: 8-3
- Packers: 7-3-1
- Lions: 7-4
- Vikings: Who cares?
But with the Chicago Bears facing a daunting schedule—including two games against the Packers and one against the Lions—the entire division is still very much up for grabs. Thursday’s winner between the Packers and Lions suddenly becomes the heavy favorite to win the North.
For the Lions, while I’m sure they’d love to win their third straight division title, just making the playoffs needs to be the primary goal. They are currently the first team out, and with the other Wild Card teams—Seahawks, Packers, and 49ers—all continuing to win games, they can’t afford too many more losses down the stretch here. So Thursday’s game is not only important to keep pace in the NFC North, but to make sure they don’t fall too far behind in the playoff race before it’s too late.
The Packers present a tough matchup, and to make matters worse, the Lions will be down two starters on the offensive line: left guard Christian Mahogany and center Graham Glasgow. On the positive side, they may be getting back defensive end Marcus Davenport and cornerback Terrion Arnold to help on the defensive side of the ball.
Will that be enough to fend off the Packers this Thanksgiving Day? Come chat with us right here on this post in the comment section. And when the game goes to halftime, head back to the front page and look for the second half discussion article.
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