By way of upside, the stakes on Sunday night between the Vikings and Lions are as high as they can be in a regular-season game. By way of downside, it’s not as if the loser will be done.
Lions coach Dan Campbell knows it.
“I mean, this is exciting, but it’s not like it’s the playoffs,” Campbell told reporters on Wednesday, via Dave Birtkett of the Detroit Free Press.
The winner gets the No. 1 seed in the NFC, the NFC North title, and a playoff bye. The loser will be the No. 5 seed. Which will put them on the road for the wild-card round. Based on how other games go, the fifth seed could still host a pair of postseason games.
“For where we’re at, it’s the next one and it is exciting, but we all know it’s still going to come down to the prep and we got to put the work in,” Campbell said. “It’s going to start today. We’ll be out there in a walk-through and then, man, you put your best foot forward and you give your guys all you can and you cut them loose and let them go make plays and see where you step up. So that’s the exciting part.”
The more exciting part is the availability of the biggest prize any team can win in the regular season.
“Well, you just, you try to set yourself up the best you can and that’s why you put those goals out there,” Campbell said. “So yeah, it’s been there for a while, so certainly this is something we want to do and we’ve had in our minds. Division and one seed and all that, and it’s right here in our hands. . . .
“Our mindset is wholly on this game right now. It’s about this next game and it’s about finding a way to win, no different than what we just did. We had to find a way to win that game, San Francisco, against a team that really — they gave us what they had and they played hard. We had to do it in Chicago the week before, so it’s the next one in front of us, and we’ve got to find a way to win this game, period, and really don’t care what it looks like, we’ve just got to win.”
The Lions have lost two games this year, both at home (to the Buccaneers and the Bills). In Week 7, they beat the Vikings in Minneapolis.
The reality for the Lions is that, even if they lose on Sunday night, they’re in very good position to win in the playoffs. They’re unbeaten on the road this year, and if there’s a rematch with Minnesota in the postseason, that’s when the game will truly have a win-or-go-home mandate, for both teams.
Twice before, a game between division rivals in the final week of the regular season had the top seed on the line. In 1993, it was the Cowboys at the Giants. In 2019, it was the 49ers at the Seahawks.
Both times, the road team won. Both times, there was no postseason rematch.
In 1993, the Giants beat the Vikings in the wild-card round. But for the Packers beating the Lions in Detroit, the Giants would have gone to Dallas. Instead, they played at San Francisco and lost badly, 44-3.
In 2019, the Seahawks beat the Eagles in the wild-card round. But for the Vikings beating the Saints in New Orleans, the Seahawks would have gone to San Francisco. Instead, they played at Green Bay and lost narrowly, 28-23.
Still, with three of the seven NFC. playoff teams coming from the NFC North, it feels like the Vikings, Lions, and/or Packers will cross paths again in the postseason.
Maybe more than once.
