{"id":426947,"date":"2025-12-05T17:36:12","date_gmt":"2025-12-05T17:36:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/426947\/"},"modified":"2025-12-05T17:36:12","modified_gmt":"2025-12-05T17:36:12","slug":"how-the-lions-win-over-the-cowboys-impacts-the-nfc-playoff-picture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/426947\/","title":{"rendered":"How the Lions\u2019 win over the Cowboys impacts the NFC playoff picture"},"content":{"rendered":"

With their 44-30 win over the Dallas Cowboys<\/a> on Thursday night, the Detroit Lions<\/a> gave their playoff hopes a boost while delivering a crushing blow to the Cowboys.<\/p>\n

Both teams entered Week 14 just outside of the playoff picture, knowing they could ill-afford another loss \u2014 especially against a fellow wild-card contender.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a deeper look at how The Athletic\u2019s NFL playoff simulator<\/a> views the Lions, the Cowboys and the NFC playoff picture in light of Thursday night\u2019s result.<\/p>\n

Lions\u2019 chances soar<\/p>\n

Before Thursday\u2019s game, the simulator had Detroit\u2019s chances at making the playoffs at 30 percent. A loss would\u2019ve dropped those odds to just 12 percent. Instead, the Lions improved to 8-5 and their postseason chances are now at about 45 percent.<\/p>\n

The Lions still need help, as they sit at No. 8 in the NFC standings \u2014 one back of the final wild-card spot occupied by the San Francisco 49ers<\/a> (9-4), who have a bye this week.<\/p>\n

Although the win moves the Lions one game back of the 49ers in the win-loss column, they will likely need to have a better record than the 49ers to overtake them in the standings. The two teams don\u2019t have a head-to-head matchup in the regular season, so in the case of identical records, the next tiebreaker of conference record would apply.<\/p>\n

The 49ers have an 8-2 record in the conference while the Lions are 5-4. San Francisco plays against NFC opponents \u2014 the Seattle Seahawks<\/a> and Chicago Bears<\/a> \u2014 in just two of its last four games, with both games at home. Detroit has three NFC games remaining, against the Los Angeles Rams<\/a>, Minnesota Vikings<\/a> and Bears, all on the road. Should they end up with the same conference record, the next tiebreaker is record in common games.<\/p>\n

The Green Bay Packers<\/a> (8-3-1) and Seahawks (9-3) are the two teams currently ahead of the 49ers in the NFC wild-card race.<\/p>\n

Detroit\u2019s most realistic chance at the postseason is through a wild-card berth. The Lions had a 5 percent chance at topping the Bears or Packers for the NFC North crown coming into Thursday night, and the win improved them only to 8 percent. The Lions lost both of their games to the Packers. They beat the Bears once and play them again in the regular-season finale.<\/p>\n

Cowboys\u2019 chances take a significant hit<\/p>\n

The simulator had Dallas\u2019 chances at making the playoffs at 23 percent before Thursday night. With the loss, the Cowboys\u2019 playoff chances dipped to about 9 percent and their chances of winning the NFC East fell to 4 percent.<\/p>\n

At this point, the Philadelphia Eagles<\/a> have the division all but wrapped up with 96 percent odds. That\u2019s despite two straight losses to fall to 8-4 and Thursday\u2019s news that\u00a0star defensive tackle Jalen Carter is being shelved with a shoulder injury<\/a>. The Eagles have the fourth-easiest remaining schedule in the league. They play the Los Angeles Chargers<\/a> on Monday night, and then face the Washington Commanders<\/a> twice, the Las Vegas Raiders<\/a> and the Buffalo Bills<\/a>.<\/p>\n

So, for the Cowboys, any slim hopes are most likely as part of the wild-card conversation. The Cowboys won\u2019t likely have to consider any tiebreaker scenarios because of their early-season tie against the Packers, unless, of course, they are tied with the Packers. But Thursday\u2019s loss has the Cowboys three back of the 49ers in the win column and in 10th place in the NFC.<\/p>\n

While Dallas is mathematically alive, even if the Cowboys ran the table, their odds would only be about 46 percent to make the playoffs and 23 percent to win the division. They will need significant help. The Cowboys have home games against the Chargers and Vikings, and road games against the Commanders and the New York Giants<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Rest of the conference<\/p>\n

Although Thursday night\u2019s game was between the two teams on the edge of the NFC playoff picture, it didn\u2019t have a significant impact on other teams throughout the conference. The Eagles\u2019 postseason chances went up by 2 percentage points and their chances to win the division went from 90 percent to 96 percent.<\/p>\n

The Bears\u2019 playoff chances and division chances each went down 2 percentage points with the Lions\u2019 win, to 75 and 34 percent, respectively.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With their 44-30 win over the Dallas Cowboys on Thursday night, the Detroit Lions gave their playoff hopes…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":426948,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[8998,9000,1232,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-426947","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-dallas-cowboys","9":"tag-detroit-lions","10":"tag-nfl","11":"tag-sports","12":"tag-united-states","13":"tag-unitedstates","14":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115668174942203389","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426947","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=426947"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/426947\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/426948"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=426947"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=426947"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=426947"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}