NFL announces Packers and Lions to play on Sunday Night Football

A national audience will see if Green Bay can finish off its late season run and make the playoffs.

The NFL announced Monday afternoon that the Packers matchup with the Detroit Lions will come under the lights on Sunday night at Lambeau Field with kickoff coming at 7:20 p.m.

If the Packers win, they will be the No. 7 seed in the playoffs. The Lions are also very much in the conversation for the final playoff spot. They need to beat Green Bay and have Seattle lose to the Los Angeles Rams. If Seattle wins and Green Bay loses, it will be the Seahawks in the postseason.

That the Packers are in this spot would have seemed outlandish a month ago. When they left Philadelphia, they were 4-8 and looking at a top-10 pick in the NFL Draft. But they came back to beat Chicago the following week, took care of business against the Rams on a Monday night, upset Miami on Christmas and then hammered Minnesota on Sunday.

Detroit’s season isn’t that much different. The Lions started 1-6 but used a win over the Packers to jump start the season, going 7-2 over their final nine games to get to 8-8.

This will be the third time since 2014 that Green Bay and Detroit have faced off on the final weekend of the season with playoff implications. In 2014 and 2016, the NFC North was on the line and the Packers won both games, while the Lions still made the playoffs. This time, only one of these teams will get to play another game this season.