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Tuesday open thread: Who’s the bigger threat to the Lions, Vikings or Packers?

Who should the Lions be afraid of the most?

NFL: Detroit Lions at Green Bay Packers Benny Sieu-USA TODAY Sports

The Green Bay Packers finally won their first game in November, breaking their four-game skid on Monday night against the Philadelphia Eagles. The win both moved the Packers up to 5-6 and brought the Eagles down to 5-6. More importantly, however, the win kept Green Bay within two games of the Detroit Lions for the lead in the NFC North. Now the division looks like this through Week 12:

  1. Lions (7-4)
  2. Vikings (6-5)
  3. Packers (5-6)
  4. Bears (2-9)

Because of the Packers win on Monday, the NFC North remains a three-team race. So today’s Question of the Day is:

Which team poses the biggest threat to the Detroit Lions: The Minnesota Vikings or the Green Bay Packers?

My answer: The Packers. While I’m not of the belief that the Packers have finally found their footing and turned things around for good, I still find them to be the team that could give Detroit the most trouble down the stretch. The Vikings may have the easier strength of schedule by record, but the Packers have all of the tiebreakers that could push them above the Lions. They currently hold the head-to-head over Detroit, and also currently have a better division record, should the tiebreaker somehow come down to that.

But the biggest overall reason why I think the Packers are the bigger threat to Detroit is simply Aaron Rodgers. In his past six games, he has thrown 17 touchdowns and three interceptions. He has the capability to outgun anyone in the league, even with his awful defense. All of the early season nonsense about Rodgers’ demise was overblown. This guy is still elite.

Your turn.

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