DETROIT – The Detroit Lions aren’t usually fans of the division-rival Chicago Bears, but they sure will be for Monday Night Football.
After jumping out to a huge lead in the NFC North Division, the Lions have lost quite a bit of breathing room. It’s not just that they fell to the Green Bay Packers on Thanksgiving Day, but also because the Minnesota Vikings won five of six games after starting 1-4.
Currently, the lead in the North is 2 games over Minnesota, but that will either grow to 2.5 or shrink to 1.5, depending on what happens Monday night.
The Vikings are hosting a Bears team that nearly upset the Lions one week ago. Detroit mounted a 12-point comeback in the final four minutes to avoid what could have been a disastrous 0-2 week.
But the loss to the Packers complicated a race that as recently as last week looked like a formality. And it’s not just because the Lions suffered their third loss.
The Lions and Vikings still have both of their head-to-head matchups remaining in Weeks 16 and 18. Let’s say the two teams split those games, like they did last season. Suddenly, that loss to the Packers could become a very important tiebreaker. (The first tiebreaker after head-to-head is overall division record.)
Detroit still has to go on the road and play the 8-3 Cowboys in between those two Minnesota games. It travels to New Orleans and Chicago the next two weeks -- a team with the same record as Green Bay and a team that outplayed the Lions for 56 minutes last week.
Throw in a matchup with Denver -- which has won five-straight games against the Packers, Chiefs, Bills, Vikings, and Browns -- and the remaining schedule for Detroit doesn’t have any layups.
Meanwhile, the Vikings play the Raiders and Bengals following their bye week. This NFC North race could really get tight by mid-December.
It would be a huge break for the Lions if the Bears could upset the Vikings tonight. Not only would it put the Vikings three games behind the Lions in the loss column, it would also negate Detroit’s division loss.
Lions fans are hoping for their first NFC North title ever, which would mean they get to see the first playoff game at Ford Field. But the Lions haven’t looked like a playoff team the last two weeks, and that has left the door open for Minnesota.
We’ll see if Justin Fields and the Bears can help out.
