With the Detroit Lions playing Sunday night, fans can be treated to a full Sunday slate of football before watching their team play. With action starting at 9:30 a.m. ET on Sunday with a London matchup between the Colts and Commanders, just about every waking hour can be spent Sunday watching football.
To help guide your viewing experience, here are the best possible outcomes for the Lions in every game that matters.
Two notes before we get into it:
- This story was published after the start of Colts vs. Commanders, but you should be rooting for the Colts in that game.
- AFC vs. AFC games are not included due to their very small impact on the Lions’ playoff race.
1 p.m. ET games
Jets (1-2) at Bears (2-1)
Root for: Jets
In the battle of the former Lions coordinators,
you are Team Aaron Glenn. Shouldn’t need to explain this one, as the Bears are in the division, and the Jets are not even in the conference.
Cardinals (1-2) at Giants (2-1)
Root for: Cardinals?
This is really a toss up, and the Lions will eventually play both of these teams—including the Cardinals next week. I don’t really believe either of these teams should be a threat in the Wild Card, but New York did manage to win last week without Jaxson Dart, so maybe they’re a fuller team than they look.
Rams (1-2) at Eagles (2-1)
Root for: Eagles
This is another debatable one, but I’m all for burying the Rams as much as possible with these early struggles. I think LA is the better team, while the Eagles will have their own set of struggles this year. So root for the better team to lose.
Packers (1-2) at Buccaneers (0-3)
Root for: Buccaneers
A 1-3 start for the Packers would be their worst start to the season since 2006. And losing to a winless Buccaneers team starting an undrafted rookie QB would be even more humiliating. Please let this happen.
Cowboys (2-1) at Texans (0-3)
Root for: Texans
Dallas is off to a solid start. What better way to spoil that than to have a winless team across the state drop them to .500?
4 p.m. ET window
Dolphins (0-3) at Vikings (3-0) — 4:05 p.m. ET
Root for: Dolphins
Seems unlikely, but a Vikings loss would open up the possibility of Detroit taking a share of the lead in the NFC North.
Broncos (2-1) at 49ers (3-0) — 4:25 p.m. ET
Root for: Broncos
The 49ers look like one of the best teams in the NFL through three weeks, but will the injuries catch up to them? Let’s hope so to knock off one of the five remaining undefeated teams.
Chargers (0-3) at Seahawks (2-1) — 4:25 p.m. ET
Root for: Chargers
AFC over NFC always. Plus that NFC West is looking pretty daunting.
Monday night
Falcons (1-2) at Saints (1-2) — 8:15 p.m. ET
Root for: Saints?
Another toss-up, because we just don’t know how good these teams are right now. I picked the Saints because the Lions already have the head-to-head tiebreaker over them, so they are slightly a lesser threat. That said, New Orleans may be the better team, so no big deal if you’re rooting for Atlanta on Monday.
