With the Lions on a Week 6 bye, there’s still plenty on the Sunday slate that can help shape the playoff picture around them. Detroit will enter Week 7 against the Green Bay Packers with a winning record no matter how the rest of the day plays out, but a few results would make life a little easier.
Not every game is worth sweating over. AFC-on-AFC matchups are left out of this exercise, since they only matter in some far-off tiebreaker scenario that isn’t worth the trouble right now. But for the NFC games that do have some relevance, there are clear rooting interests.
Start with Chicago at Atlanta, where the choice is simple: pull for the Falcons. The Bears are at 3-2, and with Caleb Williams back at quarterback, there’s at least some chance their offense starts looking functional again.
That’s reason enough for Lions fans to hope Chicago keeps taking losses. Atlanta, meanwhile, has won two straight and may be starting to look dangerous, but that’s secondary here.
At New York, the Saints- Giants game calls for rooting against the team in blue. Detroit already owns the tiebreaker over New Orleans, so even a Saints surge wouldn’t be a major threat. The Giants, though, are sitting at 3-1-1 and might end up with a better-looking record than they deserve thanks to a stretch of NFC East games that doesn’t exactly scream powerhouse schedule.
The Carolina-Philadelphia matchup is the one with a little more nuance. Panthers over Eagles is the recommended play, even if it’s not as clean as the others.
There’s an argument for wanting Philadelphia to win if you believe the Eagles are in trouble without Jalen Hurts at quarterback, and Carolina already holds the head-to-head tiebreaker over Detroit. Still, the better path may be to hope the Panthers pull away in the NFC South, keeping that tiebreaker out of the Wild Card picture altogether.
And if Philly gets knocked down the standings a bit more, that’s hardly a problem.
Then there’s Steelers at Buccaneers, and the logic is straightforward: root for Pittsburgh. “Through gritted, Aaron Rodgers-hating teeth, I say AFC over NFC, always.”
In the late window, the Cardinals visiting the Rams is another spot where Lions fans should be pulling for the underdog. Arizona is a mess right now, but if the Cardinals can somehow go on the road and beat the “superteam’ Rams, that could create real problems in Los Angeles.
Sunday night brings Cowboys at Packers, and this one has the clearest Lions angle of the bunch. Detroit would prefer not to see Green Bay roll into Ford Field on a three-game winning streak, especially with two of those wins coming against playoff contenders. So the hope here is simple: the Packers’ defense looks shaky, their offense gets out of sync, and Dallas’ rough defense gets enough done to make that happen.
The week isn’t over yet, either. Commanders at 49ers is still on the slate, another NFC game that could matter as the Lions keep an eye on the field around them.
In Other News...
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Aidan Hutchinson May Finally Have What Lions Fans Have Wanted
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DJ Wonnums emergence may be part of the reason that path suddenly looks more realistic. Hutchinson has praised the way the two edge rushers complement each other and has talked about wanting both players, and the Lions, to keep building on that chemistry. For a pass rush that has often leaned too heavily on Hutchinson alone, the next stretch could determine whether he keeps drawing the kind of attention that turns a good season into a special one. [Read more 🡒]