DETROIT – The Detroit Lions have another chance to officially clinch a playoff spot during Monday Night Football, but fans should actually hope that they don’t.
NEW BREAKDOWN: Why Detroit Lions now control their own destiny for No. 2 seed in NFC
With their win over the Denver Broncos on Saturday night, the Lions improved to 10-4 and reduced their magic number to one. That means they can either win one game or the Seahawks or Rams could lose one game to lock up a playoff spot.
Seattle hosts Philadelphia for this week’s edition of Monday Night Football, and an Eagles victory would put the Lions in the playoffs for the first time since the 2016 season.
But let’s be completely honest: The Lions don’t need the Seahawks to lose this game.
It would take a monumental collapse for Detroit to miss the postseason at this point. Not only would the Lions have to lose their final three games, but both the Seahawks and Rams would have to win out. That means the Rams beating the Saints, Giants, and 49ers while the Seahawks beat the Eagles, Titans, Steelers, and Cardinals.
Anything is possible in the NFL, but it’s extremely unlikely that the Lions are going to finish 10-7 and miss the postseason.
So fans might as well keep a different dream alive: The race for the No. 2 seed in the NFC.
Right now, it looks almost certain that the Lions will be the No. 3 seed in the playoffs, which would mean hosting the No. 6 seed in the first round and then likely traveling to Philadelphia or Dallas in the second round.
But if Detroit can somehow jump to No. 2, that difficult second-round matchup would suddenly move to Ford Field.
For that dream to become a possibility, the Eagles have to lose to the Seahawks on Monday night. Philadelphia gets to finish the season with two games against the Giants and one against the Cardinals -- two of those worst teams in the NFC.
But a loss to the Seahawks would drop the Eagles to 10-4 and even up the most important tiebreaker with the Lions: conference record.
Theoretically, if the Eagles lose to the Seahawks and then both the Eagles and Lions win their final three games, the Lions would earn the No. 2 seed via the “common opponents” tiebreaker.
Philadelphia would finish with a 4-2 record against those common opponents, while the Lions would be 5-1.
If the Eagles beat the Seahawks, they likely lock up the No. 2 seed even if they slip up in one of their last three games because the “common opponents” tiebreaker would be tied, and the Eagles hold a healthy lead over the Lions in the next tiebreaker (strength of victory).
So while celebrating a return to the playoffs would be fun, Lions fans should actually hope to push that back one more week and keep the dream of a better playoff seed alive.