The Detroit Lions are facing an opportunity to clinch the No. 1 seed in the NFC over the final two games of the regular season.
If the Minnesota Vikings lose on Sunday, a win over the San Francisco 49ers on Monday would give the Lions the top seed in the playoffs, a first-round bye and home-field advantage throughout their journey to the Super Bowl.
Detroit needs to win Monday regardless of the outcome of Minnesota’s game against Green Bay. If the Vikings win, regardless of Detroit’s outcome the division and top seed will be decided in Week 18.
In the event of a Vikings win, the outcome of Monday’s game would not hold weight in deciding the No. 1 seed. Even if the Vikings win and the Lions lose, Detroit could still win the North in Week 18 by virtue of the head-to-head tiebreaker should they beat the Vikings for a second time.
However, coach Dan Campbell is not leaving anything up to chance and plans to bring full force out to San Francisco for the NFC Championship rematch.
“I’ll make this easy for everybody, that way all the critics can jump out and start attacking. But that way you don’t have to debate them anymore,” Campbell said.
“We are bringing everything we’ve got into this game and we are playing, and I don’t care what it looks like and where it’s at. Or who’s this? Who’s that? We’re going out to win this game out on the west coast.”
There will be added motivation for the members of the Lions who were with the team last year, as that group walked off the field in defeat with the 49ers celebrated their comeback to clinch a Super Bowl berth.
As a result, there will be an added layer of intensity for Detroit to avenge last year’s loss. While this matchup doesn’t have the same stakes as what last year’s meeting did, the Lions are still eager to gain vengeance.
“Any time we lose, the thought of losing is gonna motivate you to not want to lose again, particularly with where you were at. So that’s always gonna bring its own level of motivation to it,” Campbell said.
“But it’s also, man, this is where we’re at in the season. We know we need another win, we understand where we’re at in the division, in the NFC. And so, I think it’s all-encompassing. Most importantly, it’s the next one, it’s the next one in front of us.”
Campbell said he expects left guard Graham Glasgow to return to action this week after missing Sunday’s game against the Bears.
The fourth-year coach also discussed the decision to waive second-year safety Brandon Joseph, who was detained by police over the weekend on suspicion of operating under the influence. Campbell explained that the decision was the result of multiple factors, both the incident and what the roster needed at that point.
“I think it was the perfect storm, is what it was. It was a little bit of both,” Campbell explained.
“It was just the perfect storm of circumstances going into that last game, and so we felt like we had to make that move.”
The Lions waived defensive lineman Chris Smith Monday afternoon, freeing up a roster spot. Smith was signed to the active roster off the practice squad Saturday.
