The Detroit Lions are featured in Week 11's game of the weekend against the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday Night Football. While the eyes of the football world will be on the two Super Bowl contenders to close out the night, several games throughout the afternoon involving NFC North teams had a direct impact on Detroit's potential path to the postseason.
Unfortunately, the Lions received no favors from the Minnesota Vikings, Chicago Bears, or Green Bay Packers, despite those respective games coming down to the wire. As a result, there is a new team at the top of the division standings, and it isn't Detroit or Green Bay.
Vikings, Giants Blow Opportunities to Help Detroit in NFC North Race
The Vikings were unable to hold on against the Bears, which actually pushed Chicago ahead of Detroit to the top of the NFC North standings leading into SNF, as kicker Cairo Santos knocked through a 48-yard field goal as time expired to improve the Bears' record to 7-3.
The Packers looked primed to give up a touchdown to the New York Giants with 40 seconds remaining in regulation and Green Bay clinging to a 7-point lead. Jameis Winston went full Jameis Winston, though, on 3rd and 6 from the Packers' 14-yard line and threw a perfect pass to a Green Bay defender, all but ending any chances the Giants had at an upset.
While it is unknown just how much scoreboard watching the Lions were doing at the time of the witching hour, what looked like a potentially promising outcome for Detroit quickly made a 180-degree turn, leaving the Lions with no favors ahead of their showdown with the Eagles.
After going 1-2 in its first go-round against the division, the margin for error is only getting smaller for Detroit with every victory that Chicago and Green Bay pick up. Lions fans should not be anywhere near panic mode yet. However, with two of Detroit's final three NFC North games coming outside of the Motor City, it would be beneficial to put as much distance between themselves and the rest of the pack as possible before the calendar turns to December.
Including the Lions' Sunday Night Football showdown against Philadelphia, five of Detroit's final eight games will come against teams that would be in the playoffs in the season ended today. This leaves head coach Dan Campbell and his staff with little margin for error from here on out. When you consider that one of those remaining games against a non-playoff team is Detroit's Week 17 showdown against the Vikings, a team that already beat the Lions this season, this group needs to be firing on all cylinders to close out the 2025 campaign.
Not only would that positive momentum help Detroit once the stakes are raised in the postseason, but a strong finish would also help provide the franchise with its most favorable possible path to Super Bowl 60.