The Detroit Lions play in the opener of the NFL’s now-traditional Week 1 Monday Night doubleheader when they host the New York Giants (7:10 PM ET, ESPN). You can make a good case that of the various question marks floating around the NFL, none are more consequential than those involving the Detroit Lions playoff chances.
The Green Bay Packers have owned the NFC North, for the most part, since this division was created in its present form in the realignment of 2002. The Packers won the North from 2002-04, and again in 2007. The torch passed from Brett Favre to Aaron Rodgers and the Packers have won this division each year since 2011. The last time they didn’t win the NFC North was 2010…when they merely won the Super Bowl as a wild-card.
The NFC playoff picture is reasonably stable at the top, but the push for the final wild-card spot looks wide-open, with seven teams packed within a game of each other in the loss column. Even if we concede playoff spots to Atlanta, Chicago, NY Giants, San Francisco and Green Bay, there’s still one more out there. Today we run down the seven teams with a shot, briefly summarize their strengths and weaknesses to this point and look at the schedule ahead…