Over the course of a few hours on Sunday evening, the NFC North division title was decided.
Not mathematically. Far from that. The Green Bay Packers and Detroit Lions are tied at 7-3, and technically the Lions are in first place because of the tiebreaker. But let’s be real.
The Packers are going to win the division. Green Bay fans know it. Detroit fans probably know it too, if they’re honest with themselves.
If you watched the two teams play on Sunday, you know. The Lions have been squeaking by teams, no matter how good or bad they are, for weeks. A very good Arizona Cardinals team (we’ll talk about them in a bit, and honestly, they likely decided a second division race Sunday) didn’t allow another miracle Lions comeback. Drew Stanton threw for 306 yards for the Cardinals. Matthew Stafford was at his worst. He was 18 of 30 for 183 yards and an interception. On most plays, he either held the ball forever or was way off when he did throw it. He targeted Calvin Johnson, one of the five greatest receivers ever, 12 times and connected on only five of them. The Lions never got in the end zone. The only thing that even kept them in the game was a couple of Stanton interceptions. Detroit isn't a bad team, but it didn't look like a contender either.
If you want to argue that it doesn’t matter if you win by one point or 30, fine. But it can help figure out future performance. And while the Lions were pulling out last-second wins, the Packers have been annihilating teams. The Packers scored more than 50 points for the second straight game, the first time in the long franchise history that has happened. Since losing to the Lions in Week 3, the Packers are 6-1 with five wins by at least three touchdowns. The 53-20 win against the previously 7-2 Eagles was absolutely tremendous. The Packers do look like a dominant football team, one of the true contenders in the NFL. And take a look at the Packers’ remaining schedule:
at Minnesota
vs. New England
vs. Atlanta
at Buffalo
at Tampa Bay
vs. Detroit
A 5-1 finish seems like a worst-case scenario. That includes the inevitable win over the Lions, who haven’t won in Lambeau Field since 1991, the year before Brett Favre showed up in Green Bay.
The Lions go to New England next week, and the rest of their schedule isn’t too bad before finishing at Green Bay. Maybe the division won’t be officially settled before Week 17. But you can see by watching the two teams that one is just on a different level right now. That shouldn’t change before the end of the season.