Detroit Lions: Game-by-game predictions for the 2017 season
By Zac Snyder
Week 14: at Tampa Bay Buccaneers
The NFL’s tiebreaking procedure gave the final playoff spot to the Lions over the Buccaneers last season but a case can be made that the Bucs had the better overall resume. While the Lions lacked wins over any teams that finished with double-digit win totals, the Bucs had wins over the Atlanta Falcons, Seattle Seahawks and Kansas City Chiefs.
Games against teams like that resulted in clear losses for the Lions last season, but they did enough to take care of business in their other games to be in position to win the tiebreaker. The Lions have no reason to apologize for ending up in the playoffs last season, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they were one of the six best teams in the conference.
The Bucs are an up and coming team in the NFC and not likely to forget that the Lions took a playoff spot they felt should have been theirs. With a head-to-head result on the line this time around, a late-season trip to Tampa is a difficult proposition for the Lions – especially if they are fighting for their playoff lives as they would be in this set of predictions.
Prediction: Loss (5-8)