Detroit Lions

With the Lions losing on Christmas Day in Minnesota, the NFC playoff field is nearly set.

The NFC’s postseason qualifiers are the Seahawks, Bears, Eagles, Rams, 49ers, Packers, and the eventual winner of the NFC South.

It will be the Panthers or the Buccaneers winning that division, and hosting a wild-card game as the No. 4 seed against the No. 5 seed.

As to the rest of the seeding, it’s all TBD. Which gives the last two weekends some extra sizzle — possibly with the No. 1 seed coming down to the Week 18 game between the Seahawks and the 49ers.

Three NFC teams that didn’t make it last year are in for 2025: Bears, Seahawks, and 49ers. The number will increase to four if the Panthers take the NFC South from the Bucs, who have won it every year since 2021.

Bounced from the 2024 field are the Lions, Vikings, and Commanders. The failure of the Lions to make it is stunning; they were 15-2 last year. They’re 8-8 through sixteen games in 2025.

The Vikings offense only made one big play against the Lions on Thursday, but that turned out to be all they needed.

Wide receiver Jordan Addison took a handoff on an end around and sprinted 65 yards for a touchdown with 3:43 left to play to lift the Vikings to a 20-10 lead over the Lions. That left enough time left for the Lions to mount a comeback that would keep their playoff their hopes alive, but their sixth turnover of the day put an end to those dreams.

Quarterback Jared Goff couldn’t handle a high shotgun snap and Vikings linebacker Andrew Van Ginkel fell on it to give the ball back to the Vikings in Lions territory. The Lions were able to force the Vikings into a third-and-5, which was generally a good spot for them in this contest but rookie quarterback Max Brosmer made his biggest throw of the game to wide receiver Justin Jefferson for a first down.

Will Reichard’s third field goal of the game came with just over a minute left to make the final score 23-10.

It was the second fumbled snap that Van Ginkel recovered and just part of an excellent Christmas performance. He also forced a fumble on a sack he split with Dallas Turner and pressured Goff into the first of two interceptions he threw in the third quarter. The Vikings defense had five sacks overall and limited the Lions to 196 yards en route to the win.

That made up for a dreadful offensive performance of their own. They had just 75 yards of offense before Addison’s big play and they finished the day with just three net passing yards after the Jefferson catch. The outing underscored how much bad quarterback play hampered a Vikings team with a good defense this season and making sure things go better next season should be their top priority once the calendar flips to 2026.

The Lions will have plenty of work to do as well. The loss clinched a playoff spot for the Packers and the Lions have now gone 3-6 after a 5-2 start to the year. Injuries played a role in their slide, but it feels clear that the Lions did not adequately replace what they lost when assistants like Ben Johnson and Aaron Glenn left after helping the team go 15-2 last season.

More changes will likely come to the coaching staff as the Lions try to find a better approach next season and head coach Dan Campbell’s seat could get hot in a hurry if they aren’t able to get off to a strong start next September. The work to ensure that doesn’t happen will begin in earnest after next week’s game in Chicago while the Vikings will close out the year by hosting the Packers.

The Vikings haven’t generated much offense against the Lions in Thursday’s game, but they have benefitted from a slew of turnovers by the visiting team.

Jared Goff threw interceptions on back-to-back throws in the third quarter and the Vikings turned both of them into Will Reichard field goals. That has the Vikings up 13-7 with just under two minutes to play in the third.

Goff’s first pick came while he was under heavy pressure from Andrew Van Ginkel and tried a long pass to wide receiver Isaac TeSlaa. Vikings corner Byron Murphy picked off the heave and returned it near midfield.

Safety Harrison Smith intercepted Goff’s next pass and Reichard nailed a 56-yard kick after the Vikings picked up four yards on the ensuing drive.

The Lions offense took its time finding its footing in Minnesota on Thursday afternoon, but they were able to draw even with the Vikings just before halftime.

Quarterback Jared Goff hit rookie wide receiver Isaac TeSlaa with a four-yard touchdown pass that made it 7-7 with 1:05 left to play in the first half. It was TeSlaa’s fourth touchdown catch in the last five games.

The score came on the final play of a 19-play, 80-yard drive that took more than 10 minutes off of the game clock. It included a pair of fourth-down conversion runs by running back David Montgomery, including one that led to an unsuccessful challenge of a spot by Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell.

The Vikings got their touchdown after linebacker Andrew Van Ginkel fell on a fumbled snap on the Detroit 16-yard line. Aaron Jones scored a few plays later, but was shaken up while being tackled on a reception late in the half. Jones was able to jog off the field under his own power.

The other four Minnesota possessions, including one that began after a fumble by Lions running back Jahmyr Gibbs, ended with punts. Quarterback Max Brosmer was sacked four times and Lions defensive end Aidan Hutchinson notched a pair of them.

Goff was sacked three times with the final one coming at the hands of linebacker Eric Wilson on the final play of the half. Goff finished the half 9-of-13 for 103 yards while Brosmer is 6-of-8 for 27 yards in his second NFL start.

A Lions blunder set up the first Vikings touchdown of Thursday’s game.

Quarterback Jared Goff lost the ball on a snap from center Michael Juergens and Vikings linebacker Andrew Van Ginkel recovered the ball on the Lions’ 16-yard line. Running back Aaron Jones covered the rest of the distance to the end zone on four carries, including a one-yard plunge that gave his team a 7-0 lead.

The fumble came one play after Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell successfully challenged a spot on a run by Lions running back David Montgomery. The play was initially ruled a first down, but the call was reversed and the Lions’ fumble came on a third-and-1 instead.

Vikings kick returner Myles Price was injured on the opening kickoff. He is considered questionable to return with an ankle injury.

Wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown will be playing for the Lions on Christmas.

St. Brown was listed as questionable with a knee injury, but he is in the lineup against Minnesota. Running back David Montgomery is also active after being added to the injury report on Tuesday with an illness.

Left tackle Taylor Decker will miss the game with an illness and a shoulder injury. Safety Avonte Maddox, offensive lineman Trystan Colon, offensive lineman Michael Niese, wide receiver Dominic Lovett, defensive lineman Tyler Lacy, and defensive lineman Mekhi Wingo are also inactive for Detroit.

The Vikings ruled quarterback J.J. McCarthy, running back Jordan Mason and tight end T.J. Hockenson out on Wednesday. Right tackle Brian O’Neill was listed as questionable with a heel injury and he is also inactive.

Brett Rypien will serve as the emergency third quarterback behind starter Max Brosmer and backup John Wolford. Linebacker Austin Keys is the team’s other inactive player.

Lions offensive tackle Taylor Decker was already questionable with a shoulder injury for Thursday’s game.

He’s now received another designation.

The Lions noted on Thursday morning that Decker has an illness and he is still questionable for the matchup.

Decker was one of several players who are questionable for the contest, including running back David Montgomery — who is expected to play — and receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown.

Kickoff for Lions-Vikings is set for 4:30 p.m. ET later today.

The story of the week (Steelers receiver DK Metcalf initiating contact with a fan and getting suspended for two games) continues to generate reactions and opinions. A man who has become well known for some of his opinions chimed in on Wednesday, with an opinion or two of his own.

And everything he said on the matter is 100-percent accurate.

“I think there’s a mindset that you pay for a ticket, you say whatever the hell you want,” Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers told reporters from the Pittsburgh locker room. “I think there should be some code of conduct. Obviously, that was intentional, and I think there was some celebration afterwards, on [the fan’s] part. Obviously, [I] don’t condone what DK did, but I understand, you know, there’s been a lot of crazy comments sent my way over the years and, you know, the truth is that that would never happen face-to-face.”

Rodgers is right. I’ve said it for years. Fans who buy a ticket think it’s their birthright to drink as much overpriced beer as they want, and then to say whatever they want, to whoever they want. At every game, including the somewhat neutral Super Bowl.

Rodgers is also right that the things fans say to the players from the stands would never be said to them in a one-on-one setting. One, they think they’re protected from consequences for their words in a stadium. Two, most of them usually aren’t partially or fully inebriated when they’re not at a game. (We’re not suggesting the fan in the Metcalf situation was inebriated to any degree.)

Obviously, there already is a code of conduct. And the league continues to explore whether the fan in question violated it. (There has yet to be a single video of the interaction that includes the fan saying anything that sounds remotely inappropriate.)

The right way to handle verbal abuse from fans is to alert security. Metcalf’s version, as pushed by his camp to the media while the league’s disciplinary decision was pending, included a claim that he previously had complained to security in Seattle about the same fan. So Metcalf knows the protocol. For whatever reason, he chose to bypass it in Detroit.

Fan abuse happens everywhere. As one source who has been present in most NFL stadiums recently told PFT, the worst fan he has experienced attends Seattle games and is parked near the visiting team’s tunnel. “The guy is brutal,” the source said. “Vicious and mean.”

The source added that the Oakland Coliseum used to be the worst place for verbal abuse from fans.

So, yes, it’s a universal reality of in-person NFL football. But there are ways to deal with it properly. We saw on Sunday the way to deal with it improperly.

We also saw what happens when the team in question fails to intervene, which continues to be the most overlooked aspect of the entire situation. Either the Steelers don’t have a protocol for keeping players from approaching fans, or they do and it failed miserably as to Metcalf.

Look for that to change, as to all teams. Memos surely will be sent by the league, and consequences may be imposed on teams that fail to keep players from doing what Metcalf did. The potential for a very bad outcome (which the league and the Steelers avoided in this case) is real, and the outcome could be much worse than Sunday’s incident.

Of course, Sunday’s incident could still become problematic for the league, based on the fact that the league’s media outlet could be joined to the inevitable defamation lawsuit arising from the report that the fan used a racial slur and other wildly inappropriate language toward Metcalf.

Running back David Montgomery was one of several Lions players listed as questionable to play against the Vikings on Christmas, but Thursday morning brought a positive update about his outlook for the game.

Mike Garafolo of NFL Media reports that Montgomery is expected to play. Montgomery landed on the injury report with an illness that kept him out of practice Tuesday and limited him on Wednesday.

While Montgomery appears to be good to go on Thursday, he may be looking for an exit from Detroit come the offseason. Social media watchers noted this week that Montgomery liked an Instagram comment suggesting that he request a trade once the season is over.

Montgomery is under contract through 2027, but has seen his usage drop for two straight years as Jahmyr Gibbs has taken on a more significant role in the Detroit offense.

Last year’s Christmas games, at least on paper, were good. (The games themselves, not.)

This year, the NFL’s three-pack of December 25 offerings are roughly the equivalent of a bowling ball, a can of Simoniz, and mismatched dress socks.

Despite the relentless hype, the games have no inherent appeal. Cowboys-Commanders, which starts the day, includes two teams that have been eliminated from playoff contention. It also features a 39-year-old, third-string quarterback (Josh Johnson) for the home team. Yes, it’s the Cowboys. But who really cares?

The second game has the Lions, who are clinging to wafer thin playoff hopes, against a Vikings team led by a rookie free agent (Max Brosmer) whose only other start was a 26-0 disaster in Seattle.

Then comes the night game, starring the Chiefs — who suddenly look like anything but the Chiefs. Patrick Mahomes is out. His backup, Gardner Minshew, is out. The quarterbacks for the home team will be Chris Oladokun and Shane Buechele. The Broncos, at 12-3, are favored by 13.5 points in the first game to be played at Arrowhead Stadium since the team’s eventual move to Kansas was announced on Monday.

Whatever the audience numbers may be for the three games, the P.R. execs will try to find a way to paint the glass of eggnog as half full. Even with the new Nielsen metric that has pumped up numbers across the board, it’s hard to imagine anyone stopping what they’re doing to watch any of these games.

They’ll probably still beat the NBA games easily. But the NFL games may not win by the usual wide margin.