DETROIT – Would Detroit Lions fans rather face the Eagles or the Buccaneers in the next round of the playoffs?
On Sunday night, the Lions won their first playoff game in three decades over Matthew Stafford and the Rams. But that wasn’t the only good news. Just before kickoff, the Lions found out they were fighting for a second home playoff game thanks to the Packers’ win over the Cowboys.
Detroit will host the winner of the Eagles-Buccaneers game, which kicks off at 8:15 p.m. Monday in Tampa Bay.
For most of the season, the Eagles were right alongside the No. 1 seed 49ers in the conversation for best team in the NFC. They started 10-1 after three-straight victories over Dallas, Kansas City, and Buffalo -- all top-three playoff seeds.
But then, suddenly, it all went south. The Eagles went home and got blasted by the 49ers, 42-19, and that sparked a stretch of five losses in six weeks to end the season.
Philadelphia even lost near must-win matchups to the 3-12 Cardinals and 5-11 Giants in the final two weeks. That allowed the Cowboys to swoop in and steal the NFC East Division.
The Buccaneers, on the other hand, took almost the opposite route to the postseason. In what was probably the NFL’s worst division, Tampa Bay started 4-7 but stayed in the race thanks to even worse performances by the Panthers, Falcons, and Saints.
While the Eagles were losing five of their last six games, the Buccaneers went 5-1 to finish with a winning record and lock up a home playoff game. It wasn’t always pretty (in fact, it almost never was), but the Bucs got hot at the right time.
Eagles-Buccaneers is a rematch from Week 3, when the Eagles went into Tampa Bay and out-gained the Buccaneers 472-174 in total yardage. It’s been nearly four months -- and these are two completely different teams by now -- but it’s hard to forget a beatdown like that one.
Baker Mayfield has had a resurgent season for Tampa Bay, but Jalen Hurts is clearly the superior quarterback. Would Lions fans rather avoid the possibility of MVP-caliber Hurts showing up just in time for the postseason?
If Philadelphia wins, that means former Lions coach Matt Patricia, cornerback Darius Slay, and running back D’Andre Swift would return to Ford Field on Sunday. That’s not quite as compelling as Stafford’s return, but it could get interesting in a different way, since Slay is beloved and Patricia is... not.
A Buccaneers win would trigger a rematch from Week 6, when the Lions went to Tampa Bay and held Mayfield’s offense to 251 total yards and a pair of field goals. Detroit came away with a 20-6 win in that matchup of first-place teams.
Who would you rather see in Detroit next weekend? Is it the struggling Eagles with the dangerous Hurts? Or a Buccaneers team we’ve already seen the Lions beat?
Let us know in this poll:
