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Aaron Rodgers is out of the NFC North, but he’s still tormenting the Detroit Lions. Rodgers’ Pittsburgh Steelers faced the Lions in Week 16. Detroit needed a win to keep its playoff hopes alive. Despite their best efforts, though, Rodgers guided the Steelers to a nail-biting 29-24 win to send Detroit’s playoff chances plummeting.
Rodgers and the Lions flipped the script from their Week 18 game back in the 2022 season. At the time, it was Rodgers’ Green Bay Packers who needed to win over the already-eliminated Lions to advance to the postseason. Instead, Detroit was able to knock down the Packers to eliminate them from playoff contention in Rodgers’ final year with the team. Was the now-Steelers quarterback thinking of that while playing against them?
You’d best bet he was. Rodgers also gave the Lions crowd their flowers, the Steelers QB saying that he lost his voice due to the crowd’s intensity.
“Pretty much, and maybe if not, maybe that’s a different story,” Rodgers said, per Jeff Riger. “I’ve had some fun games over the years here. They had fierce defense in the 2010s. I would see guys whose names you know. Obviously, in 2015 it’s always going to stick out as a special thing. But I’m thankful for the years here. I will say again, kudos to the fans. That was a really loud environment… I lost my voice out there, and that’s because of that.”
Rodgers was solid against the Lions in Week 16. The Steelers quarterback completed 65.9% of his passes for 266 yards, throwing one touchdown (an incredible catch-and-go by Kenneth Gainwell) and no interceptions. That, combined with a valiant defense against Detroit’s attack, was enough to secure the win over the Lions.
With their win and the Ravens’ loss to the Patriots, the Steelers’ chances of making it to the playoffs skyrocketed to over 90% per The Athletic’s model. The Lions, on the other hand, have not been mathematically eliminated yet, but their chances went down to just 6%. Detroit will need a ton of things to go their way to even have a chance at the postseason.
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