How can Lions clinch a playoff berth in Week 13?

Thanksgiving is upon us and the Detroit Lions have a chance to clinch a playoff berth by the time Sunday comes to a close. The Lions need a lot of help, but considering they’re currently holding the No. 1 seed in the NFC, clinching a wild card berth is not a big concern.

The Lions host their annual Thanksgiving game with the Chicago Bears coming to town. The Bears are sitting at 4-7 and unlikely to make the playoffs, but they have shown some life in recent weeks. This marks their third straight divisional game and they’re coming off a 30-27 overtime loss to the Vikings last week and a 20-19 loss to the Packers the week before. Those both were at Soldier Field, but even still, they’ve been competitive in recent weeks.

Detroit is a 9.5-point favorite at FanDuel Sportsbook and if they win, they can clinch a playoff berth with six different potential outcomes. We’ll post the full list below, but if we ignore ties given their unlikely nature, the Lions have two potential scenarios in which they clinch a playoff berth:

DET win + SF loss + ARI loss + SEA loss + TB loss
DET win + SF loss + ARI loss + SEA loss + WAS loss + ATL loss

The 49ers are traveling to Buffalo to face the Bills on Sunday Night Football. The 49ers are unlikely to have Brock Purdy available, and given their assortment of other injuries, they’re heavy underdogs. The Cardinals are 3.5-point road underdogs against the Vikings, which could be an upset special, but Minnesota has been getting the job done. The Seahawks are 1.5-point road favorite against a bad Jets team, but Seattle doesn’t play ordinary games and that is a small spread. For the remaining three games, the Bucs are road favorites against the Panthers, the Commanders are home favorites against the Titans, and the Falcons are slight home underdogs to the Chargers.

Here is a list of all the Lions’ clinching scenarios that include ties.

DET win + SF loss or tie + ARI loss or tie + SEA loss + TB loss or tie
DET win + SF loss or tie + ARI loss + SEA tie + TB loss or tie
DET win + SF loss or tie + ARI loss or tie + SEA loss + WAS loss or tie + ATL loss
DET win + SF loss or tie + ARI loss or tie + SEA loss + WAS loss + ATL tie
DET win + SF loss or tie + ARI loss + SEA tie + WAS loss or tie + ATL loss
DET win + SF loss or tie + ARI loss + SEA tie + WAS loss + ATL tie