Five games that will define the Detroit Lions season
By Ash Thompson
Week 17: The Green Bay Packers
This will be either the opportunity to slay the Lions demons or to at least play spoiler. This is a week seventeen game at Lambeau Field. The Lions have not felt the effect of the Lambeau curse as much as the Rodgers curse in recent years. In the last three seasons, the Lions are 2-1 in Green Bay. Of course, Aaron Rodges was not on the field for either of the Lions victories over the Packers in 2017. The Packers are not a great team in 2018. They are a team fronted by one of the most dangerous players in the league, however. There is a very good chance that both of these teams will need a win in week seventeen. That is why the NFL’s schedule makers put this game here. It is not a coincidence. Every game played in week seventeen is a division rivalry game.
A straight-up, best on best, no shenanigans victory in Lambeau week seventeen would change the default perception of the relative position of the teams within the division. The Packers roster is legitimately bad, but they rank as Superbowl contenders by default. A home loss in a game that matters would go a long way toward tossing that sentiment in the trash can like the detritus it is.
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The Lions can set the tone in week one. The student can best the master in week three. In week 10 the Lions will show us where they sit in the division hierarchy. Week 13 brings the best roster in the NFL on paper to Ford Field for a challenge to the coaching staff. Finally, week 17 closes out the year in the most inhospitable environment imaginable. These are the five games that will define the Detroit Lions 2018 season