Sunday open thread: Will the Detroit Lions clinch the NFC North today?

The Detroit Lions find themselves in an incredibly rare situation on Sunday morning. They can not only clinch their first division title in 23 years, but they can do it with two weeks remaining in the NFL schedule. That would give Lions fans some much needed relief, although the team would still be competing for seeding, hoping to grab one of the two first-round byes.

Earlier in the week, we broke down the two NFC North clinching scenarios for the Lions in Week 15, but here’s a friendly reminder.

1. Lions win + Packers loss or tie against the Bears
2. Lions tie + Packers loss + Vikings tie or loss

So today’s question of the day is:

Do you think the Lions will clinch the NFC North on Sunday?

My answer: No. I think we can all agree it’s a bit of a longshot to happen this week. First off, the Lions would obviously have to tie or beat the Giants, which itself would be an upset. Secondly, the Packers have to lose to the Bears, which would be an even bigger upset.

However, let’s give this a little more thought than just looking at the lines of the game. The Packers—Seahawks game aside—are player worse defense than the Lions right now. The Bears don’t exactly have an amazing offense, but Matt Barkley has shown some promise in his first career NFL starts and he gets Alshon Jeffery back this week. Defensively, the Bears are a solid team and could give an injured Aaron Rodgers some trouble if they try to get him out of the pocket.

I certainly don’t think a Lions win or a Bears loss is out of the realm of possibilities. If I had to give it a percentage, I’d say somewhere around 15 percent.

Your turn.