The Lions will be home for the playoffs this season
You shouldn’t be surprised.
The only NFC team to never even get to a Super Bowl won’t be going again this year.
Minnesota’s Christmas Day win over Detroit eliminated the Lions from playoff contention and dropped the NFC North pretenders to 8-8 on the season.
“It sucks,’’ Detroit quarterback Jared Goff said. “We’ll look back at the season after next week. But yeah, it sucks.’’
How It Fell Apart
It started last offseason, just after the team that was the No. 1 seed in the NFC got bounced in their first playoff game by sixth-seeded Washington.
When the Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson left to become head coach of the Chicago Bears and defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn followed and became head coach of the New York Jets it left voids on both sides of the ball that could not be filled.
It also left head coach Dan Campbell as vulnerable as Goff looked on Christmas Day against the Vikings. Campbell, who has now watched his team go from a blown NFC Championship Game to a top seed being bounced early to a .500 team, is a great motivator, an emotional wizard, a former player who tries to get the most from his team.
What Campbell isn’t good at is the x’s and o’s, the game planning, the play calling, you know actual coaching.
Same Old Lions
The crazy part of this is the Lions started the season 4-1 and were 6-3 just past the midpoint (if there’s a midpoint of a 17-game season). Losses in four of their last five games when it mattered the most has them sitting out the playoffs just like they used to do. And, of course, not going to a Super Bowl.
“At the end of the day you’ve got to tip your hat off to them. They had a good game plan, and we weren’t ready,” Lions Pro Bowl right tackle Penei Sewell said. “Simple as that.”
3 Dog Night
The text came bright and early Friday morning from my man Chuck Miller, who bets home underdogs religiously. All three ‘dogs covered Christmas Day, as Washington stayed within a touchdown of Dallas; the Vikings won outright and Kansas City stayed within a touchdown of Denver.
Go back to Thanksgiving Day and it wasn’t home ‘dogs. But Green Bay won as underdog in Detroit; Dallas won as an underdog against Kansas City and Cincinnati did the same in Baltimore.
So on the two big holiday slates underdogs went 6-0 ATS and were 4-2 straight up.
Going for No. 1
One of the more interesting games this week has nothing at all to do with the playoffs. The 2-13 Raiders host the 2-13 Giants. The loser will have a great chance to get the first pick in the 2026 draft. The winner could fall as far as the sixth overall pick. It might be fun to watch.
Here’s how the top 10 picks in the draft look with two weeks to go:
Both teams are red hot. Houston has won seven straight. Los Angeles has won seven of eight. Both still have a shot at their division titles. The Texans need to win out and hope Jacksonville loses to either the oldest QB in the league, Indy’s Philip Rivers, or the youngest QB in the league, Tennessee’s Cam Ward. The Chargers need to beat Houston and then beat Denver next week.
Seattle at Carolina, Sunday, 1 p.m.
It’s never easy to travel cross country, and all the Seahawks have to do is ask the Rams or the Packers about the Panthers chance of pulling an upset. The ‘Hawks are trying to hold on to the NFC’s top seed. The Panthers are trying to hold on to first place in the NFC South.
Chicago at San Francisco, Sunday, 8:20
The Bears played last Saturday night. The 49ers played last Monday night. So Chicago gets the edge there. The game is in Santa Clara, though, so home field could be a factor. Three of the Bears four losses have come on the road this season.
