Lions' two-game divisional stretch to prove crucial for playoff hopes
· Yahoo Sports
ALLEN PARK — The NFC North once again has proven to be one of the best divisions in football, but the Detroit Lions are the only team that hasn't had a chance to see how they stack up against their peers.
Detroit faces the Green Bay Packers and Minnesota Vikings in its upcoming two-game home stretch at Ford Field as it looks to stake its claim as a potential division champion and get off to a good start in its divisional schedule.
Visit somethingsdifferent.biz for more information.
The Lions (3-2) play the Packers (4-2), who are on a three-game winning streak after a rocky start, at Ford Field on Sunday, Oct. 25 (4:25 p.m.).
"It's pretty exciting," said an energized Lions coach Dan Campbell. "It's crazy, because it does, it feels like it's been a while (since we played a divisional game). I know we finished with Chicago last year, but it just, it has. You feel like everybody else has played each other and we haven't had a chance to play anybody in our division yet.
"So, this is exciting, to be able to open up with our division, obviously at home, against a really good opponent, who's playing really good football right now."
All teams in the division are above .500 after Week 6, including the undefeated Vikings (5-0), who sit atop the division. The Packers beat the Dallas Cowboys 23-13 on "Sunday Night Football" and the Chicago Bears (4-2) knocked off the Atlanta Falcons, 31-23, earlier in the day.
While the Lions were the preseason favorite to win the North, Detroit is currently last in the division.
Division games were a problem for the Lions a season ago, and they missed the playoffs after a late-season collapse. After going a perfect 6-0 in 2024, Detroit was 2-4 in 2025 and was swept by the Packers and Vikings — they were officially eliminated in Minnesota on Christmas Day — but swept the Bears with wins in Weeks 2 and 18.
All four teams in the division were above .500 last season, with the Lions finishing last at 9-8. The season prior, the Lions and Vikings were both 14-2 entering the season finale, with the Packers sitting at 11-6 to close the year.
So knock 'em out, drag 'em out division contests aren't exactly foreign to any of these teams.
"It's been that way for a while. I mean, we know what division we're in," Campbell said. "It's got really good players, really good coaches. It's top-notch. So you gotta be on it every week. But that's why I said, you can't get too high, you can't get too low. You just got to try to improve every week, incremental improvement and find a way to win, and then get to the next one."
The Packers are off to an up-and-down start within the NFC North.
Green Bay held a 22-10 third-quarter lead over Minnesota in the season opener before a litany of huge defensive plays by the Vikings defense propelled Minnesota to 29 unanswered points in a 39-22 Packers loss. Then, with some pretty bad losses and a close win over a struggling Tampa Bay Buccaneers team in their rear-view mirror, they blew out the Bears — playing their third game with a backup quarterback — 31-7 at Lambeau Field.
"This is a step to try to get to No. 4 (wins), you know, which is the plan," Campbell said. "First division game, it'll be fun, man. We get it at Ford Field, so we'll be excited."
If the Lions want to reclaim their NFC North dominance (or even just get back into the playoffs), one would assume they have to go .500 or better in the division. And considering three of their last four games of the season are road divisional games in Weeks 15 (Minnesota), 17 (Chicago) and 18 (Green Bay), a hot start against the Packers and Vikings at home will be crucial to their playoff hopes. The Lions finish their home divisional slate against the Bears on Thanksgiving.
Lions vs. Packers
▶ Kickoff: 4:25 p.m. Sunday, Ford Field, Detroit
▶ TV/Radio: FOX/97.1 FM
▶ Records: Lions 3-2; Packers 4-2
▶ Line: Lions by 3
▶ Series: Green Bay leads, 108-78-7 (Last meeting: Packers win, 31-24, on Nov. 27, 2025, in Detroit)
@nolanbianchi
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Lions' two-game divisional stretch to prove crucial for playoff hopes