The Detroit Lions made a statement win over the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday, vaulting them toward the top of the NFC North picture and well within striking distance of one of the conference’s top seeds.
Here’s a look at the updated NFC playoff picture, with Monday night’s game between the Chicago Bears and Seattle Seahawks still pending.
NFC North standings after Week 8
1. Minnesota Vikings (6-1)
2. Detroit Lions (5-2)
3. Chicago Bears (5-2)
4. Green Bay Packers (5-3)
The Lions find themselves just a game behind the NFC North-leading
Vikings, and now they have a key head-to-head victory over Minnesota. If the Lions beat the Vikings on the road in Week 15, they’ll have what could be a critical tiebreaker to decide the division.
For now, the Lions hold the No. 2 spot thanks to a spotless divisional record (2-0) compared to the Bears (0-2), but if Chicago beats the Seahawks on Monday night, they’ll jump Detroit by just having a better overall win percentage at 6-2. If Chicago loses, they’ll drop to the bottom of the division because they’ve lost the head-to-head with Green Bay.
It’s worth noting just how ridiculously competitive this entire division is. According to Chicago Sun-Times’ Mark Potash, this is the first time in the 25-year history of 32-team divisional alignment that every team is two games over .500 through eight weeks.
NFC playoff standings after Week 7
Division leaders:
1. San Francisco 49ers (6-1)
2. Minnesota Vikings (6-1)
3. New York Giants (4-2-1)
4. Carolina Panthers (3-4)
Wild Card race (top three advance)
5. Detroit Lions (5-2)
6. Chicago Bears (5-2)
7. Green Bay Packers (5-3)
8. Seattle Seahawks (4-3)
9. Los Angeles Rams (4-4)
10. Tampa Bay Buccaneers (3-5)
11. Atlanta Falcons (3-5)
12. Arizona Cardinals (3-5)
13. Dallas Cowboys (3-5)
14. Washington Commanders (2-4-1)
15. New Orleans Saints (2-5)
16. Philadelphia Eagles (2-6)
Detroit climbs to the top of the Wild Card race, while the Vikings drop to the No. 2 seed behind a 49ers team that was on a bye week. The NFC North still holds all three Wild Card spots, but that could change in a hurry with the Seahawks and Rams starting to look more like themselves in recent weeks. But, outside of those two teams, I’m not sure there’s a serious NFC team to worry about. The Falcons, Cardinals, and Cowboys have some terrible losses on their resume. The closest thing to a contender among that group is probably the Buccaneers, who have won three of their last four games and sport a +27 point differential.
