NFL Christmas triple header open thread

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all of our Pride of Detroit family. I know we’d all be a little more merrier had the Detroit Lions won. We’d all be cozy and warm in a playoff position right now. But some things are more important than football, so I hope you get to spend some time with loved ones this special Sunday.

If not—or if you need a break from them—please feel free to hang here with your POD family during today’s tripleheader of nationally-televised games. We’re pretty much done for the day in terms of Lions coverage, save for a draft pick update after the Rams/Broncos game.

So relax, play with your newest doohickeys, and watch some NFL football this afternoon.

Here’s today’s slate.

Packers at Dolphins — 1 p.m. ET — FOX

Saturday was literally the perfect day for Green Bay’s playoff odds, but their odds still remain extremely long (11% per FiveThirtyEight). With a loss, those would drop to one percent—and it would but the Lions’ odds a couple percentage points.

A lot is on the line for the Dolphins, too. While they’re currently sitting on 83 percent playoff odds, that would drop to 67 percent with a loss to the Packers.

It’s a big game to kick off Sunday’s action

Broncos at Rams — 4:30 p.m. ET — CBS

This may as well be a Lions vs. Seahawks game considering the only thing on the line is draft pick implications—and the Rams and Broncos don’t even own their own first-round picks.

I broke down the implication of the game here.

Buccaneers at Cardinals — 8:20 p.m. ET — NBC

The Cardinal have been eliminated from postseason contention, so this game doesn’t mean much to them. The Buccaneers, however, need a win to stay above the surging Carolina Panthers to stay atop the NFC South. Next week the Bucs and Panthers face off in Tampa, but if Tom Brady and company lose this week, the Panthers will go into that game as the top team in the division.

Note: There will be a separate “Sunday Night Football” open thread before kickoff.