The Detroit Lions have one more game left in the 2024 regular season, and despite winning a whopping 14 games over the first 17 weeks, their playoff position isn’t finalized quite yet.
That will come on Sunday night, when the Lions host the Minnesota Vikings at Ford Field in a matchup that will determine who gets the No. 1 seed, a first-round bye and home-field advantage. The loser finishes in the No. 5 seed and will have a road playoff game next week.
If the Lions win and lock up the No. 1 seed, they won’t have to play next week and will get the lowest remaining seed in the divisional round of the playoffs following their bye.
However, if the Lions lose to the Vikings on Sunday night, Detroit will be the No. 5 seed and has three possible opponents from that spot. Here’s a look at all of the playoff matchup scenarios for the Lions going into Week 18.
Lions playoff matchup scenarios
Lions beat Vikings: No. 1 seed vs. lowest remaining seed in divisional round.
Lions lose to Vikings: No. 5 seed vs. No. 4 seed (at Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Los Angeles Rams or Atlanta Falcons in wild-card round).
The Rams enter the week as the No. 3 seed but can fall to No. 4 with a loss and a Buccaneers win over the New Orleans Saints. If the Rams win, they lock up the No. 3 seed, but they’re resting key their starters against the Seattle Seahawks.
If the Buccaneers lose, the Rams will secure the No. 3 seed, no matter what they do. A Tampa loss would then open the door for the Falcons to make the playoffs and secure the No. 4 seed with a win. They cannot finish any higher than No. 4.
Of course, all three teams play before Detroit’s Sunday night contest, so we’ll know who the Lions could potentially face before they take the field against the Vikings.
The loser of Lions-Vikings will actually make NFL history as the first 14-win team to be a wild-card squad. That has led to wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown to call for a rules change, but that’s another debate for another day.
It goes without saying the most ideal scenario for Detroit is getting the first-round bye, as it would give them home-field advantage and put them one step closer to the Super Bowl.
But getting the week off is especially important because it’ll give the Lions more time to get running back David Montgomery back.
