Can Surging Detroit Lions Continue Late Season Push and Make NFL Playoffs?
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It has been six years since the Detroit Lions last made the National Football League playoffs.
If you are a fan of the Lions, I probably did not have to tell you that: in fact, you might be able to tell me, down to the day, the last time Detroit played in the postseason.
It was January 7, 2017, by the way, when the Lions fell 26-6.
While we are on the subject of dates, do you know the last time the Lions WON a playoff game?
That was January 5, 1992, in a 38-6 victory over a Dallas Cowboys team that would go on to win three of the next four Super Bowls: the Lions, since that win, have lost 10-straight playoff games.
Alright, enough of the heartache, because things are looking up in Detroit for the first time in years. The Lions went into their 2022 Week 15 contest at 6-7, with a slim chance to make the postseason. But with five wins in their last six, and a favorable schedule to end their campaign, maybe this is the year the hex is broken.
Right now, various sports book apps in Michigan still have the Lions as rank outsiders to make the playoffs. But Detroit’s current win total, which was set at 6.5 before the season, is now nearly certain to be an over. There were many writers that thought the Lions would improve to 7-10 or 8-9 this year, but 9-8 is looking to be doable: heck, if Detroit plays the way it did when it dismantled the NFC North champions-in-wait Minnesota in Week 14, there is a chance the Lions end the year at 10-7 on a six-game winning streak.
Ten wins would almost certainly be enough to get into the NFC playoffs this season. If (IF) the Lions somehow get into the postseason winning nine of their last 10 games, you would have to think they have a decent shot to beat a team in the Wild Card round and end this playoff hoodoo.
Maybe Detroit falls short, though: maybe it is just too much to go from losing all three preseason games in 2021, then losing eight more games to start the regular season (and starting winless in its first 11 at 0-10-1), before finishing 3-13-1, to making the playoffs with a winning record. It might be the case.
But with the demise of Green Bay, and a power shift all over the NFC, it certainly looks like this team is building in the right direction for the future. If you do not put a few bucks on the Lions to make the playoffs this year, maybe it is worth some money to do so in 2023.
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