DETROIT – The Detroit Lions picked up a critical win for their playoff seeding on Sunday, and meanwhile, everything else that happened around the league also fell perfectly into place.
First-place Lions
First thing’s first: Let’s take a look the NFC North picture after Week 6.
As long as the Lions stay atop the division, they’re guaranteed to host a playoff game at Ford Field. So while it’s fun to talk about the bigger picture, the NFC North standings are still most important.
By improving to 5-1, the Lions picked up an extra half-game of breathing room while the Green Bay Packers had their bye week. Detroit is now 2.5 games ahead of second-place Green Bay.
Meanwhile, Minnesota went on the road and beat Chicago in a battle of desperate 1-4 teams. The Vikings, who won the division by four games last season, are still three games behind Detroit, while the Bears fell to four games back.
It’s impossible to say a division race is over after six games, but this is as big a lead as any team could hope for at this point in the season.
Tiebreaker with NFC South teams
If the Lions win the North, they’ll earn one of the top four seeds in the NFC playoff bracket, and there could be a major difference in the quality of their opponent based on which of those four seeds they receive.
For example, if the postseason started today, the No. 4 seed would host the Seattle Seahawks -- a team that’s already defeated the Lions at Ford Field. The No. 2 seed would host the Los Angeles Rams, and the No. 3 seed would host the Dallas Cowboys.
Maybe you don’t see a big difference between those teams. I believe the Seahawks are a much tougher test than the other two.
With their win Sunday, the Lions took a step toward ensuring they’ll have an edge over whoever finishes atop the NFC South. They already have head-to-head wins over the Buccaneers and Falcons, so if either of those teams win the South and finish with the same record as Detroit, the Lions will earn the better seed.
Top 2 teams lose
The popular opinion surrounding this year’s NFC is that the Philadelphia Eagles and San Francisco 49ers are the clear top two teams. That may still turn out to be true, but for anyone holding out hope that the Lions can enter that conversation, Sunday was a great day.
San Francisco suffered its first loss at the hands of the Cleveland Browns and backup quarterback P.J. Walker. It’s the NFL, so anything can happen on any given week, but this was the first real sign of vulnerability from the 49ers.
Philadelphia, meanwhile, scored just 14 points in a surprising loss to the New York Jets. Jalen Hurts threw a costly interception in the final minutes and couldn’t capitalize on a chance to win with plenty of time remaining on the final possession.
Suddenly, the Lions are tied with both of those powerhouses at 5-1. They’re still technically in third since their loss came to an NFC team, but the records are identical. Detroit has by far the easiest remaining schedule of the three, so this is worth keeping an eye on.
Overall NFC playoff picture
NFC playoff contenders took a bit of a beating Sunday, with the New Orleans Saints losing to the Houston Texans, the Falcons losing to 2-3 Washington at home, and the Seahawks falling to the Cincinnati Bengals.
When the dust settled, the Lions were tied with the 49ers and Eagles at 5-1 -- and nobody else in the conference has even reached four wins.
The Seahawks and Cowboys are the closest to the Lions at 3-2, meaning they’re 1.5 games behind. But they’re in the same divisions as the 49ers and Eagles, respectively, so their records will likely only matter for wildcard seeding.
Unless the Lions cough up this lead in the NFC North, they won’t be affected by wildcard seeding.
What this means is the Lions have plenty of breathing room in terms of the playoff race. They appear to be in a tier of three teams separating themselves from the rest of the conference.
That’s a completely new feeling for football fans in Detroit.