FIRST DOWN: NEXT GAME UP
At this point last season, the Lions were 11-1 and very much in the conversation for a second straight NFC North title and the No. 1 overall seed in the playoffs.
A year later this Detroit Lions football team sits in a different spot following Thursday's 31-24 loss on Thanksgiving to the Green Bay Packers, a loss that dropped Detroit to 7-5 on the year.
The Lions are now behind both the Bears (8-3) and Packers (8-3-1) in the NFC North with just five games remaining. The Packers also now hold the tiebreaker with the Lions thanks to a season sweep of Detroit.
"We dug ourselves a little bit of a hole and that's the bottom line," Lions head coach Dan Campbell said Thursday after the loss. "We are in a little bit of a hole. But that's just what it is. There's nothing more than that. All we have to do is worry about cleaning up this and getting to next game and find a way to win the next one in front of us."
Detroit still has games remaining vs. Dallas, at LA Rams, vs. Pittsburgh, at Minnesota and at current division leader Chicago to end the regular season. Detroit must find a way to string some wins together if they hope to be a playoff team in 2025.
"Find a way to win the next one and get to 8-5," quarterback Jared Goff said. "Then after that, it's going to be the same answer. We know where we're at. We certainly know this was consequential for division ranking and what not."