Pride of Detroit
In a pivotal NFC North tilt on Thanksgiving Day, the Detroit Lions fell flat and it could have dire consequences down the stretch. It was sadly more of the same from the Lions: a few splash plays on offense with too many defensive lapses mixed in.
Detroit is officially running out of games to turn their season around. Having lost both of their matches versus the Green Bay Packers, the Lions are not only playing catchup in the NFC North, but the Wild Card race as well. We have seen the Lions in recent seasons dominant opponents left and right. We have seen the Lions win hard-fought battles thanks to gutsy playcalling and execution. In 2025, both aspects have come back to bite the Lions. It is not an exaggeration to say that the Lions need to play near-perfect football down the stretch.
Let’s take a look at some winners and losers from a rough Thanksgiving game.
The playoff dream is not yet dead, but it is firmly on life support. Sitting at 7-5 on the season with five games to go, the NFC North is likely out of reach barring a significant turnaround from the Lions or a collapse from the other teams in the division. That leaves a Wild Card spot as the likeliest avenue for Detroit, but even that seems grim at this point. How many wins are still on the table for the Lions?
Since the NFL schedule expanded to 17 games in 2021, only five Wild Card teams have made the playoffs with nine wins or fewer. Of those five, only the 2023 Green Bay Packers won a playoff game. Winning in the playoffs is difficult. Winning in the playoffs as a Wild Card team is very difficult. Winning in the playoffs as the third Wild Card seed is extremely difficult. Nine wins might be enough to make the playoffs, but it would be a serious uphill battle. As for achieving 10 or more wins and maybe securing the second Wild Card spot, it would mean having to beat three of the Dallas Cowboys, Los Angeles Rams, Pittsburgh Steelers, and Chicago Bears—a tall task given how the Lions are presently playing—plus some losing from the teams ahead of Detroit.
I think many of us knew that a record of 15-2 would be unrealistic to duplicate, but we were at least hoping for a team capable of calling itself among the league’s best. The Lions are sadly just a fringe playoff team at this point.
Amon-Ra St. Brown was one of the few players Detroit could not afford to lose. With the star receiver quickly ruled out due to an ankle injury and already missing Kalif Raymond, the Lions were down to Jameson Williams and the bottom of their depth chart.
A week after getting blanked on three targets, Williams rebounded nicely against Green Bay. He led the way with seven...
