The Detroit Lions completed an incredible turnaround in 2023, winning the NFC North and locking up the No. 3 seed in the playoffs. Their reward is a matchup against the Los Angeles Rams and their former QB, Matthew Stafford, on Wild Card Weekend.
While the Lions don’t want to overlook the Rams, their ultimate goals for this season remain further down the road this postseason.
With the assistance of the free PFN NFL Playoff Predictor, let’s examine the Lions’ playoff scenarios in terms of their potential opponents and how they could end up hosting another playoff game in the Divisional Round.
Editor’s Note: The Dallas Cowboys’ loss to the Green Bay Packers means that the Lions will host either the Philadelphia Eagles or Tampa Bay Buccaneers after defeating the Los Angeles Rams during the Wild Card Round.
What Are the Detroit Lions’ Playoff Scenarios in Terms of Opponents for the Divisional Round?
By the time the Lions take the field on Sunday night, they may well know their potential Divisional Round opponent. Detroit’s most likely playoff scenario is that they will travel to Dallas to face the Cowboys next week. For that to happen, the Cowboys need to defeat the Green Bay Packers, and the Lions need to beat the Rams.
However, if the Packers win, the Lions will have to wait until Monday Night Football to learn their opponent. In that scenario, Detroit would either face the Tampa Bay Buccaneers or the Philadelphia Eagles.
The delay in learning their opponent might be frustrating, but it would mean the Lions will host a Divisional Round playoff game for the first time since their 1952 NFL Divisional Round game against the Rams.
The way the NFL playoff bracket works is that the lowest-ranked team remaining after Wild Card Weekend travels to face the No. 1 seed in the Divisional Round. The Lions cannot be the lowest-ranked team, so they will not face the San Francisco 49ers next week.
Detroit’s two playoff scenarios are traveling to face the No. 2 seed, or hosting the No. 4 or No. 5 seed.
If the Lions were to emerge victorious over the next two weeks and one of the teams seeded four or lower also wins on both weekends, Detroit would then host an NFC Championship Game. They have not hosted a championship game of any kind since the 1957 NFL Championship Game.
When it comes to comparing the three opponents, hosting either the Buccaneers or Eagles is naturally a more desirable outcome than traveling back to Dallas. However, the Lions may feel they have unfinished business in AT&T Stadium after a mix-up with the officials cost them a momentous Week 17 road win.
The Lions haven’t beaten the Cowboys since 2013, losing five straight games on the road against Dallas — and one at home. Their last postseason encounter was a 24-20 victory for the Cowboys, with Dallas surging back in the second half to deny the Lions a first playoff win since the 1991 season.
Detroit would likely ideally pick a Buccaneers team that limped into the playoffs as their next opponent. The Lions have won three of their last five meetings with Tampa Bay, including a 20-6 victory this season. Detroit lost the only postseason matchup between the two, but that was back in 1997.
When it comes to the Eagles, the Lions are 3-2 against them in their last five meetings but have lost their last two. The fact that the first meeting between Nick Sirianni and Dan Campbell as head coaches of these teams was a 44-6 thrashing of the Lions shows just how far the Lions have come to reach this point.
Detroit won’t fear any of their potential Divisional Round opponents, but they would love to host Tampa Bay or Philadelphia and make it back-to-back playoff games. Nevertheless, they’ll also have the confidence to go into both Dallas and San Francisco and put up a respectable showing as they seek to win their first Super Bowl in franchise history.
Want to predict the results of the 2023 NFL postseason with our FREE NFL Playoff Predictor? How about looking into in-depth breakdowns of team depth charts or the NFL playoff schedule? Pro Football Network has you covered with all that and more!
