Sunday open thread: Is Sunday’s game a must win against Minnesota?

After a controversial loss to the Green Bay Packers, the Detroit Lions find themselves in the basement of the NFC North with another divisional matchup looming. With a win against the Vikings, the Lions are no more than two games back of the division lead, and with a loss, they dig themselves a hole that will be very difficult to climb out of.

The Packers, at 5-1, host the Raiders as 4.5-point favorites and have the Chiefs the following week who will likely be without their MVP quarterback, Patrick Mahomes. The Lions are going to need to string some wins together to keep up with the rest of the division as they are the only team not currently not above .500 in the North. It’s now or never.

Today’s Question of the Day is:

Is this week’s game against the Minnesota Vikings a must-win situation for the Lions?

My answer: Yes.

I really hate to declare a game a must-win this early in the year, but screw it. This feels like a unique situation. The NFC North is arguably the best division in the NFL and the Lions are probably going to have to finish with at least 9 or 10 wins to bring home a division title. This team is good enough and I don’t want to see their ceiling be a wild card road game.