[Bette]

When you look at the final seven games of the Detroit Lions schedule and also take a glance at the NFC standings, it comes down to this: If the Lions are going to make the playoffs, they must win at least four of their final seven games. The tricky part is figuring out which four that might be.

There are still a lot of decent teams sitting at 5-4, but if the Lions can finish at 10-6, their odds of keeping ahead of that competition are very good.
But which four games can the Lions win? They have two games against the 8-1 Packers, but they're one of the hottest teams in all of football. So are the 8-1 Dallas Cowboys.
The "easy" games are against the Giants (because the Lion will be at home), the 3-6 Vikings in Minnesota (because they'll probably be without Adrian Peterson), the 4-5 Kansas City Chiefs (because it's another game at Ford Field and the 5-4 Chargers in San Diego. Wait, that last one isn't going to be easy at all.
Now you see the problem.
Not only must the Lions win on Sunday, but they might have to steal at least one from the Packers and, barring that, knock off the Cowboys.




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