Week 17: Green Bay Packers vs Detroit Lions Preview and Prediction

As Titans president, I experienced that December-January surge in 1999, when we won our last four regular-season games before we won three playoff games en route to a close Super Bowl loss to the Rams. The game of the week is the aforementioned winner-take-all Packers-Lions game that will decide the NFC North division championship. The Packers are slight road favourites on Sports Interaction’s National Football League odds. The Redskins will be in the playoffs with a win as long as the Packers-Lions game doesn’t end in a tie (please, National Football League – no more ties).

The Cowboys did not rest their starters against Detroit on Monday night, but with the NFC’s top seed locked up, they get another opportunity to when they visit the Eagles (6-9) on Sunday afternoon. In their last meeting with Green Bay at home, the Lions were narrowly defeated by the Packers, as Rodgers threw a 61-yard game winning touchdown as time expired for a 27-23 win (Dec. 3, 2015).

The Bucs beat the Panthers.

Rodgers’ harmful sting as the leader of Green Bay’s offense has been felt by many an opponent the last several weeks. The Packers now hold the four spot, while Detroit dropped all the way down to sixth. The Packers should be able to win on the road in a high-scoring affair. Jordy Nelson caught nine of his passes for 154 yards and two scores. Cobb could return this week after being inactive for a game because of an ankle injury.

This will be the first time the Packers have played in a dome since traveling to Atlanta in Week 8, amplifying the importance of the team’s preparation inside the Don Hutson Center this week.

His “run the table” prediction was seen by most as just another sports cliché, but his players saw it as the greatest nod to his belief in them. Week 17 won’t be any different as Luke Kuechly will sit out once again due to concussion issues, defensive ends Charles Johnson and Mario Addison could also skip out because of foot issues, and Cam Newton has been favoring his shoulder for the past couple of weeks and one has to wonder how much he has left in hm. Stafford is 20 yards shy of becoming the fourth quarterback with 4,000 in six consecutive seasons. 3. In a year when the Chicago Cubs can win the World Series, anything can happen.

The Lions rounded off the weekend’s action with a 42-21 loss to an impressive Dallas Cowboys side. Should the Packers lose they’ll also have the 9-7 record and still end above the Redskins, so if the Giants do beat the Redskins this game will have much less of a do or die feel about it. The Lions are 8-7 ATS this season and 5-2 ATS at home.

There was a school of thought at one point this season – never for coach Mike McCarthy, mind you – that the Green Bay Packers could survive without a running game. His numbers for this period are the following: 141 passes out of 202 attempted, 1,718 yards gained, 14 touchdowns and 0 interceptions. Marvin Jones had a career game with six catches for 205 yards and two TDs.

Both Clinton-Dix and Burnett will need to be disciplined to contain Stafford and cover for the inevitable mistakes the corners will make. He has nearly one thousand receiving yards and he has ten receiving touchdowns, but those numbers have come mostly on a few big games this season.

There are touchdowns and deep throws to Golden Tate available for Stafford, especially if center Travis Swanson is back in the lineup, but no one can say with an ounce of certainty if Stafford is capable of carving up Green Bay’s defense with his throwing hand in its current condition.