Who will Detroit Lions play in NFL playoffs 2025? Predictions for wild-card round

Posted by Admin January 6, 2025 NFL

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The Lions took down the Minnesota Vikings 31-9 on Sunday Night Football in Week 18 to clinch the top overall NFC playoff seed and a second consecutive NFC North crown.

The Lions scored the first touchdown of the game and never trailed as Aaron Glenn dialed up a masterpiece for a beat-up defense, led by returning linebacker Alex Anzalone. On the offense side, Jahmyr Gibbs was brilliant, rushing for three touchdowns and catching another for four total on the day.

With the win, the Lions clinched the first No. 1 seed in franchise history since the NFL went to a two-conference bracket format in 1975. The Lions led the way for most of the season thanks to a franchise-record 11 straight wins, and shook off a late loss to the Buffalo Bills to win three straight, including a de-facto playoff game in the finale, heading into the postseason.

Detroit rode one of the best offenses in modern NFL history to the historic finish and found a way to overcome an onslaught of defensive injuries to find enough stops to keep on winning. The Lions surpassed the franchise record for wins by three games and are riding high on momentum entering bracket play.

The Lions will have their first bye since Week 5, which happened on the first weekend of October over three months ago. On top of the extra rest, Detroit is guaranteed at least one more game at Ford Field and has homefield advantage for the NFC championship game should they advance that far.

Here’s a look at who the Lions could play in the divisional weekend.

Who will Lions play? NFC wild-card round prediction

The NFL playoffs re-seed matchups each round, meaning the Lions will play the lowest-seed team to advance.

The rest of the NFC playoffs consist of the No. 2 seed Philadelphia Eagles, No. 3 seed Tampa Bay Buccaneers, No. 4 seed Los Angeles Rams, No. 5 seed Minnesota Vikings, No. 6 seed Washington Commanders and No. 7 seed Green Bay Packers.

The Eagles host the Packers, the Buccaneers host the Commanders and the Rams host the Vikings in the first round.

The Eagles will beat the Packers in a rematch of the Week 1 showdown in Brazil to secure hosting rights for the second divisional game.

Baker Mayfield and the Buccaneers will outlast upstart Commanders in a shootout to lock in a showdown with Philadelphia in the next round.

And last but not least, the Vikings will go on the road and handle Matthew Stafford and the Rams to set up a third matchup with Detroit and a second iteration at Ford Field in three weeks.