The Green Bay Packers are quite thankful this Thanksgiving, and it's hard not to be when they just pulled off a season sweep of the Detroit Lions. The Packers won at Ford Field with a 31-24 final, and now they hold a major tiebreaker over the Lions in the playoff race.
Strangely enough, this win wasn't enough to bump the Packers into one of the top four spots in the playoff picture, at least not right now. The Chicago Bears currently lead the NFC North with an 8-3 record, but with the Packers sitting at 8-3-1, a loss for Chicago on Friday would give Green Bay the top spot in the division.
That will obviously be a huge game for the Packers and their playoff seeding, but what does the race look like right now?
According to The Athletic's playoff simulator (h/t Bill Huber of Sports Illustrated), Green Bay's playoff chances increased to 94 percent with this win, and 68 percent to win the NFC North. Had the Packers lost, their playoff chances would've fallen to 73 percent, and Matt LaFleur's squad would've only had a 30 percent chance of regaining the division title. It's a huge win.
Packers significantly boost their playoff chances with huge win over Lions
Here are the updated standings after the Packers knocked off the Lions on Thanksgiving.
Updated NFC playoff picture
- Los Angeles Rams (9-2, 1st NFC West)
- Philadelphia Eagles (8-3, 1st NFC East)
- Chicago Bears (8-3, 1st NFC North)
- Tampa Bay Buccaneers (6-5, 1st NFC South)
- Seattle Seahawks (8-3, 2nd NFC West)
- Green Bay Packers (8-3-1, 2nd NFC North)
- San Francisco 49ers (8-4, 3rd NFC West)
- Detroit Lions (7-5, 3rd NFC North)
- Carolina Panthers (6-6, 2nd NFC South)
- Dallas Cowboys (5-5-1, 2nd NFC East)
- Atlanta Falcons (4-7, 3rd NFC South)
- Minnesota Vikings (4-7, 4th NFC North)
- Arizona Cardinals (3-8, 4th NFC West)
- Washington Commanders (3-8, 3rd NFC East)
- New Orleans Saints (2-9, 4th NFC South)
- New York Giants (2-9, 4th NFC East) - Eliminated
If the season ended today, the Packers would remain the six-seed, which is unchanged from a week ago. That would, funny enough, lead to them heading to Chicago for a date with the Bears in the wild-card round.
These playoff scenarios will change pretty quickly, though, after Friday's game that pits the Bears and Philadelphia Eagles against each other. If the Bears lose that one, it'll be the Packers at the top of the NFC North, with the Bears then sitting at 8-4.
The Packers are 3-0 in the NFC North with two games remaining against the Bears, who are 1-2 in the division. That means that everything Green Bay wants is right in front of them. The Packers need to keep their eyes on the prize and win the games they need to win. If so, they should be able to capture their first NFC North title since 2021.