By admin 
SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. – No matter what happens against the San Francisco 49ers on Monday Night Football, the Detroit Lions will have to wait until Week 18 to try to capture the division title and the top seed.
The Lions are in San Francisco for a prime-time NFC title game rematch. They will play the 49ers in their final road game of the regular season. But with the Minnesota Vikings and Sam Darnold beating the Green Bay Packers in Week 17, a winner-take-all game awaits next Sunday from Ford Field in Detroit.
The Packers showed some fight, but it was too little, too late. They scored 15 points in the fourth quarter, but the Vikings ran out the clock and kept them off the board in the final two minutes.
Minnesota’s 27-25 win also eliminated the Philadelphia Eagles from contention for the No. 1 seed.
For those wondering, look for the Lions-Vikings game to likely be moved to Sunday Night Football as the final game of the season. There isn’t much competition around the NFL that week, especially considering the effort and quality of the teams, with the Lions and Vikings each looking like legitimate Super Bowl contenders.
If the Lions take care of business against the 49ers, the winner-take-all affair will feature two 14-win teams.
As we’ve said in the past, there’s a hint of cruelty in the fact that the Lions are enjoying their best regular season of all time and are still locked in a dogfight heading into the final week. Heck, they’re 5-0 in the NFC North and undefeated on the road. Still, they’ve needed every win to stay ahead in the division.
The Vikings haven’t lost since falling to the Los Angeles Rams in Week 8. In fact, their only two losses of the campaign came in consecutive weeks.
Related: Lions’ Amon-Ra St. Brown now looks for Packers with top seed on the line
Related: Dungeon of Doom mailbag: Which players on expiring deals should Lions bring back?
However, head coach Dan Campbell and the Lions do not feel sorry for themselves and the highly contentious situation. In fact, they have embraced the growing NFC North, with Campbell saying it’s what he expected all along in their quest to repeat as champions in the league’s best division.
“We’re all in it together,” Campbell said earlier this season. “I’m not shocked at all. We knew it was going to be a competitive division.
“You don’t really want anything else. I love that. I think it’s a good thing. You get to battle it out with some teams that play really good football… It’s quite exciting, to be honest.’
That excitement will reach new levels with the NFC North title and the top spot up for grabs in a winner-take-all game at home. Pack the earbuds because Ford Field is going to rock for this playoff-esque atmosphere. But first the Lions play a primetime game on the road that won’t move the needle.
“Yes, I’ll make it easy for everyone. That way all the critics can jump out and start attacking, but that way you don’t have to argue with them anymore,” Campbell said when asked what he would do if the Vikings won. “We bring everything we have to this game, and we play, and I don’t care what it looks like, and where it is located or who this is, who is that, we’re going to go out and play and win this game on the west coast.
“So there you go.”
- BETTING: Check out our guide to the best michigan sports bookswhere our team of sports betting experts reviewed the experience, payout speed, parlay options and odds quality across multiple sportsbooks.