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Saturday’s games came and went without much fanfare. Both the Cowboys and the Colts seemed to handle their opponents with easy. What was supposed to be one of the most entertaining first rounds of the playoffs turned out to be a dud of a day.
That being said, Sunday is another opportunity to impress, and the later game actually provides some intrigue for Detroit Lions fans, specifically.
The Chicago Bears swept the Lions this week and really dominated the entire division. Though most fans would argue the Packers are the bigger rival, the Bears aren’t that far behind, and many are probably hoping Mitchell Trubisky and the Bears fall flat on their face in the opening round.
But they’ll have to face off against an Eagles team with a couple of important ties to the Lions. Perhaps most notable is the fact that the Detroit Lions hold the Eagles’ third-round draft pick. So the deeper the Eagles go in the postseason, the worse the Lions’ draft pick becomes. If the Eagles lose on Sunday, the Lions will get the 21st pick in the third round. If the Eagles win, that pick could be as low as 32nd in the round, depending on when (if) the Eagles get eliminated.
Of course, there are probably a lot of Golden Tate fans left in Detroit, and even though the star wide receiver already has a Super Bowl, it’s hard not to root for the guy that gave the Lions so much. So today’ Question of the Day is:
Who are you rooting for Sunday afternoon: Eagles or Bears?
My answer: I’m having a really tough time with this one. On one hand, it’s hard to ever root for a rival, especially the Bears, who are feeling extra self-important now that they’ve turned the franchise around on a dime. Then there’s the nightmare scenario where Trubisky picks up his first playoff win in his only attempt, meaning Bears fans would have the argument “Trubisky has more playoff wins than Matthew Stafford.”
But all of that is easily ignorable. It’s not like Bears fans are going to be any less obnoxious with a loss. They’re obnoxious by nature. Nothing will change that.
And if we’re looking at this purely from a logical perspective, a Bears win helps the franchise most. It makes the Lions’ draft pick better, and it makes the Bears’ draft pick worse. I know there isn’t a ton of difference from Round 3, Pick 21 to Round 3, Pick 25 (or whatever the Eagles will end up having). And I know this sounds weird coming from someone who was against the Lions tanking, but rooting for a Lions win is much more satisfying than rooting for a Bears loss. And there is a difference, however slight, between a pick in the middle of the third round to a pick at the end.
So let’s just say we’re rooting for an Eagles loss, not a Bears win.
Your turn.