Are Lions in the Playoffs After Win Over Giants?
The Detroit Lions still have work to do heading into a massive Thanksgiving showdown with an NFC North rival.
After winning over the New York Giants on Sunday, the Lions remain on the outside of the playoff picture looking in due to the San Francisco 49ers' win over the Carolina Panthers on Monday Night Football.
Detroit currently holds the first spot outside of the Wild Card, sitting behind the 8-4 49ers for the seventh seed. The 49ers currently also hold the tiebreaker over the Lions if they were to finish tied with the same record due to their record in conference play.
The Lions still remain in a good position to control their playoff outcome. They will have matchups against the Packers, Cowboys and Rams over the next three weeks, and if they were to sweep that stretch it would put them in a position to shake up the playoff standings.
Detroit also currently sits just a game back of the NFC North lead, as the Chicago Bears are 8-3. With a win and a Bears loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, the Lions could be back in first-place as soon as Friday.
The Bears, Lions and Packers appear to have separated from the Minnesota Vikings, who lost a third-straight game at the hands of the Packers on Sunday. Now 4-7, the Vikings have a less than 1 percent chance to make the playoffs according to the NFL's Next Gen Stats playoff probabilities.
There's no downplaying the stakes of Detroit's matchup with the Green Bay Packers on Thanksgiving. With a win, the Lions would jump ahead of the Packers at 8-4, leaving their opponent at 7-4-1. Additionally, a Bears loss on Friday would drop them to 8-4, and the Lions currently hold the head-to-head tiebreaker thanks to their win in Week 2.
Detroit will have its return meeting with the Bears at Soldier Field to end the regular season in Week 18.
Each of the Lions' next three games will be against teams deep in the NFC playoff hunt. In addition to Green Bay, the Lions face a Dallas Cowboys team that earned a big win over the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday and then the top-seeded Los Angeles Rams.
Here's an updated look at the NFC playoff standings after 12 weeks of action.
1.) Los Angeles Rams (9-2)
2.) Philadelphia Eagles (8-3)
3.) Chicago Bears (8-3)
4.) Tampa Bay Buccaneers (6-5)
5.) Seattle Seahawks (8-3)
6.) Green Bay Packers (7-3-1)
7.) San Francisco 49ers (8-4)
Steelers owner Art Rooney II calls on the NFL to discipline the young Bears defender after a deliberate hit targeting OT Broderick Jones — and the viral video has sent Steelers Nation into outrage
The Pittsburgh Steelers didn’t just walk away from a 31–28 loss to the Bears — they walked straight into a firestorm after a slow-motion clip of DE Dominique Robinson launching himself into Broderick Jones
The hit, described as “intentional and unrelated to the play,” snapped Jones’ neck sharply to the side, leaving him numb in the neck and without feeling in his arm for several seconds. Anyone who witnessed the moment immediately stood up in shock — Broderick Jones, with more than 3,000 career snaps, rarely stays down that long.
Although Jones courageously returned to the field, the Steelers confirmed he suffered a severe stinger, a nerve injury in the neck that is particularly dangerous for offensive linemen. But for the organization, the concern was no longer the injury itself — it was the
Sources within the team say owner Art Rooney II watched the clip multiple times before sending an official request to the NFL early the next morning, urging the league to issue significant discipline against Robinson.
In a rare moment of public firmness, Rooney II stated:
“We always respect physical, hard-nosed football, but what happened out there wasn’t part of this game anymore. That was a deliberate act aimed at a person, not a play. And if the NFL wants to protect its own reputation, moments like that cannot be allowed to happen again — the league owes this entire community an answer.”
The viral video shows Robinson not slowing down — in fact accelerating — as he slammed into Jones after the play had essentially ended. Steelers fans erupted in anger, calling the hit “dangerous, reckless, and disrespectful.”
The Chicago Bears declined to comment, saying only that they “will wait for the NFL’s review.”
Meanwhile, Broderick Jones remains questionable for the Week 13 matchup against the Ravens. Losing him now would be a massive blow to a Pittsburgh offensive unit already searching for stability.
The loss to Chicago brought plenty of frustration, but the aftermath of the hit on Broderick Jones has grown into a much larger story. When a normally reserved owner like Rooney II steps forward to demand NFL intervention, it’s clear the situation has moved far beyond a single game — and the entire league is now watching how the NFL chooses to respond.
