ALLEN PARK -- The Detroit Lions head into their final five games of the regular season in third place in the NFC North and outside of the playoffs.

At 7-5, the Lions need to finish the season as strong as possible while getting a ton of help in the NFC. As things stand, they are the last team out of the playoffs, trailing the San Francisco 49ers (9-4), Green Bay Packers (8-3-1) and Seattle Seahawks (9-3) for the three wild-card spots.

Getting swept by the Packers puts the Lions in a tough hole, and San Francisco’s 8-2 NFC record compared to Detroit’s 4-4 mark gives the 49ers a huge head start on any potential tiebreakers.

The best path for the Lions includes the Bears slipping down the stretch and winning that Week 18 showdown in Chicago to sweep Ben Johnson’s surging squad. It’s a lot

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