The Detroit Lions probably didn’t have to play their starters on Monday night but did, and the blueprint for the rest of their season became clearer.
The Lions can score a lot of points. And they will have to if they want to make it to their first Super Bowl in franchise history.
The Lions’ offense was good and a defense that has been battered by injuries had a hard time slowing the San Francisco 49ers down, though it came up with a couple of key second-half interceptions. The Lions won, 40-34, with the offense doing what it has done all season — racking up plenty of yards, big plays and points. That’s how they’ll have to win, starting with a massive Week 18 showdown against the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday night.
The Lions’ win helped them in one way, in terms of their clinching scenario. If the Vikings and Lions tie, Detroit will win the division. The Lions got that edge due to Monday night’s win. They’ll go into Week 18 needing a win or tie to win the NFC North and No. 1 seed in the conference. Minnesota will win the division and be the NFC’s top seed if they win in Week 18. The Vikings and Lions both go into the game with 14-2 records. That game next week will feature the most combined wins for any regular-season game in NFL history.
The loser of that matchup will be locked into the No. 5 wild-card seed and will be on the road during wild-card weekend.
As for Monday night, head coach Dan Campbell saw the benefit in playing the game as usual. The biggest lesson might have been that the Lions’ defense is going to have to rely on big plays because it’s too injured to hold down many playoff offenses.
The good news for the Lions is maybe their offense is good enough to outscore each team they’ll face the rest of the season.
Live31 updates
