The game has no significance in terms of the postseason. However, the Lions and Packers have too much history for this not to be a hard fought game at noon on Sunday.
At (6-8-1), Green Bay hosts the (5-10) Detroit Lions for the regular season finale. Green Bay will close out the regular season against Detroit for the third straight year and the fourth time in the last five seasons.
Including a 1994 playoff victory, the Packers are 25-2 against the Lions in the state of Wisconsin since 1992. Green Bay has a 27-10 overall mark (.730) against Detroit since 2000, a .730 winning percentage that ranks No. 1 among NFL teams that have played the Lions 10-plus times over that span, according to profootball-reference.com. The Packers have a 16-2 home record (.889) against Detroit since 2000. It is the first December meeting in Green Bay between the two since a 30-20 Green Bay victory in Week 17 of the 2014 season.
With quarterback Aaron Rodgers as the starter, the Packers are 6-2 in Week 17 games, including 3-0 against Detroit. Rodgers has recorded a passer rating of 115.0-plus in five of the eight Week 17 games he has started (126.0, 139.6, 131.8, 117.1, 132.2). Dating back to 2008, Rodgers has thrown for 18 touchdowns and just four interceptions in Week 17 games with a passer rating of 111.0 that ranks No. 1 in the NFL among active quarterbacks (min. 150 pass att.) over that span (according to pro-football-reference.com).
The Packers are 2-1 under Interim Head Coach Joe Philbin. In Week 16, Green Bay came back from 15 points down in the fourth quarter to defeat the New York Jets. It is the first time in team history that the Packers have come from 15-plus points down in the fourth quarter in two games in a season (Week 1 vs. Chicago), according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Last week, Green Bay totaled 35 first downs, the second most in a game in franchise history behind only the 37 at Philadelphia on Nov. 11, 1962.
Six of the Packers’ eight losses this season have been by eight points or less, including three by three or fewer points.
