Green Bay Packers' Jordan Love thorws during the second half of an NFL football game against the Chicago Bears Sunday, Jan. 7, 2024, in Green Bay, Wis. The Packers won 17-9. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)
This NFL season has been full of anomalies. Almost every week we see a less-intimidating Chiefs team scrapping together ways to win in almost every way imaginable. You have a division in the NFC West (and the NFC South for that matter) full of teams that don’t really stack up as “Super Bowl Contenders”. Usually you have at least one team that runs away with the division by this point in the season. On the flip side, you have one division (NFC North) with not one, but three legitimate teams that could raise the Lombardi. And with tonight’s NFC North matchup between the Packers and Lions, things will either get a lot clearer or a lot tighter in the final few weeks of the regular season.
If the Lions win tonight’s game things will shift heavily their direction in terms of winning the division. They will essentially erase Green Bay from the division-winner conversation because they will hold the 2-0 head-to-head and there would not be enough games left for the Packers. If the Packers win tonight, it blows this thing wide open. The Packers would come within one game of the Lions, split the head-to-head and make for a theatrical final few weeks.
So where do the Vikings fall into all of this? Well, Minnesota plays the patient observer this evening. The Vikings don’t necessarily need the Lions to lose tonight, but it would be a huge help in pushing Minnesota closer and closer to the 1-seed, which would mean a first-round bye and homefield advantage throughout the playoffs.
I say they don’t need a Lions loss tonight because the Lions still have a gauntlet ahead facing the Bills, 49ers and Vikings after tonight. But any loss sustained by the Lions is a win for the Vikings at this point in the season. The Vikings don’t have a walk in the park to finish the year either, they finish the season with Seattle, Green Bay and Detroit.
In terms of playoffs, the Vikings control their destiny. As long as nothing crazy happens they should be in. But that isn’t the goal. The goal is to host playoff games in front of one of the most raucous crowds in the NFL, in-turn creating one of the most hostile environments to play. As for the game tonight, I expect a shootout to push 50 combined points, but I expect Green Bay to win in the final minutes. Don’t get me wrong, the Lions are playing absolutely unstoppable football right now and it is not smart to bet against them, but the Packers have to feel like their season hangs on tonight’s outcome and I think Jordan Love has the ability to lead them to an upset. Game kicks off at 7:15 CT on Prime.
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