Detroit Lions have work to do to make NFL playoffs. They can't let it come down to finale

The Detroit Lions have work to do.

A spot in the 2025 NFL playoffs is not a foregone conclusion. After losing three of their last five games, let’s consider what needs to be done.

At 6-4, the Lions will likely need five more wins to secure a postseason berth. They have seven games left.

Hardly a big ask. But not an easy ask, either.

It took 11 wins to make the playoffs last season in the NFC. The Lions hurdled that handily with 15. I’m guessing you remember, and remember, too, that 15 regular-season wins didn’t mean much in the end.

Injuries on the defensive side meant more. By the time the Lions got to their playoff opener against the Washington Commanders, they couldn’t defend Cass Tech.

Health matters most, but only if a team makes the playoffs first. Right now, the Lions, again, have some work to do to get to 11 wins and to get to a third straight postseason.

Ten wins might do it – two 10-win teams in the AFC made it last year. But the Lions don’t want to chance it. Dan Campbell doesn’t want to chance it. You don’t want to chance it. The stress alone …

But then you don’t play center, or defensive end, or safety, or tight end. All you can do is watch.

Dan Campbell used to play tight end. Heaven knows the Lions could use a little backup there, too. He’s got other things to worry about though. Like the New York Giants.

Toss the record out for the Giants

That’s his focus, he told reporters in Allen Park on Wednesday, Nov. 19. Of course he is thinking about the Giants. He’s a coach. They’re the next team on the schedule.

He’s also focused on the Giants’ competitive spirit, because it’s formidable for a team that is 2-9. They’ve been in a lot of close games. Lost to the Green Bay Packers by a touchdown Sunday, after taking the lead in the fourth quarter. Had a chance to tie it at the end, too.

So, toss the record out. Cliché? Yeah. Smart? Absolutely, especially considering the unevenness this Lions team has shown this season.

“Look I don’t think any of that,” he said of the playoff race. “I know this – and I hit the guys on this because I just want them, especially more now than ever … [to] just worry about this one … what’s in front of you. We’ve got to get another win. And we’ve got to get back on our feet. We’ve got to play better ball in all three units. … Don’t worry about anything else – don’t worry about what’s out there, don’t worry about the NFC, NFC North, don’t worry about the rankings or this, that. That doesn’t matter. We have to win.”

Yes, they do.

Lose to the Giants – for your first back-to-back losses since October 2022 – and the season goes sideways in a hurry.

Right now, it’s listing. OK, moderately listing, considering that if the playoffs started today, the Lions wouldn’t make it.

So, once more: Work to do. That starts against the Giants.

Beat New York and the Lions need just four wins to make our hypothetical magic number of 11 – a 4-2 finish to the season.

Not unreasonable … but not a sure thing either, considering they’ve gone 2-3 since that four-game win streak in September and October.

Here are the games the rest of the way: Green Bay Packers at home (on Thanksgiving), Dallas Cowboys at home (on another Thursday night), Los Angeles Rams on the road, Pittsburgh Steelers at home, Minnesota Vikings on the road, Chicago Bears on the road. Assuming the Lions beat the Giants, they’ll need four of those.

Beat the Packers and everyone exhales, at least for a moment. Beat the Cowboys and they’re halfway home.

Beat the Rams?

The Lions can start thinking about winning the NFC North again. Let’s assume a loss, however.

A tight finish looks unavoidable

That’d put the Lions at 9-5 with three games remaining –two wins from an almost-certain wild-card berth.

Knock off Aaron Rodgers and the Steelers and it comes down to finding one more win on the road against oe of the two NFC North teams. Another loss to the Vikings – on the road – could set up a win-or-go home game – for both teams – against you–know–who in Chicago.

Ben Johnson might relish that. You would not. Neither would Campbell.

The Lions’ season coming down to a cold-weather game against Campbell’s protege almost seems cruel. But then, this is life at the adult table in the NFL.

Now, it’s possible the Bears – who have a one-game lead over the Lions in the North entering Week 12 – slow down on the fourth-quarter comebacks. They wouldn’t be playing for a division title (or a wild-card spot) in that scenario, with their own slate of tough games, including the Philadelphia Eagles, the Packers (twice), the Steelers and, of course, the Lions.

Still, they’d have plenty to play for, much like the Lions did three years ago when they went into Green Bay and knocked the Packers out of the playoffs despite having been knocked out themselves before the game.

Maybe that’ll bookend this Lions chapter, and the Bears will be the next great story in the NFC North over the next few seasons. Or maybe the Bears and Packers and Vikings all tumble, and the Lions take the division with 10 wins.

Or maybe they get their Honolulu Blue act together. Maybe it’s not as bad as it seems. They did just stay with the Eagles – in Philadelphia! – despite just about everything going wrong on offense that could.

That has to say something.

Whatever it says, though, the Lions have seven games left to hear it.