THE Detroit Lions will open the playoffs next week against the Washington Commanders.
The Commanders defeated the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Sunday, 23-20, to advance to the divisional round of the playoffs for the first time since 2005.
The Lions and the Washington franchise have met three times in the playoffs, with Washington winning all three games. Washington beat Detroit in the 1991 NFC Championship Game and won wild card games in the strike-shortened 1999 and 1982 seasons.
JEFF SEIDEL: Matthew Stafford’s secret was the rocket fuel that revived the Detroit Lions
The Lions won a franchise-record 15 games in the regular season this year and enjoyed a bye in this week’s wild-card round.
Lions coach Dan Campbell gave players a weekend off after Thursday’s practice and said he and his team won’t do much early preparation work on their potential divisional round opponents .
As the 1 seed, the Lions had four possible opponents for next week: the Green Bay Packers, Washington Commanders, Los Angeles Rams or Minnesota Vikings. The seventh-seeded Packers lost to the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday 22-10. The sixth-seeded Commanders, however, beat the Buccaneers to set the field, with the winner of Monday’s 4/5 game between the Los Angeles Rams and Minnesota Vikings (to be played in Glendale, Ariz., in due to wildfires in the Los Angeles area). direction Philadelphia.
“’It’s really hard, because here’s what I don’t want to do, and I’ve been a part of it as a player and a coach, you don’t know who you’re playing against so you… do it. ” work another opponent’s legs and then you find out it’s not that opponent,” Campbell said. “My plan is to give them three days this weekend, cool down, sleep, rest , we’ll know hopefully by Sunday night and then we go in and we’ll know the opponent. And then we If we are all about it, with a complete game plan, we will know who we will face. »
The Lions played three of their four potential regular-season opponents, sweeping the Packers and Vikings and beating the Rams in the season opener. The Commanders, who finished 12-5 and in second place in the NFC East, were the only potential opponent the Lions did not face.
Washington, coming off a 4-13 season in 2023, won its final five games of the regular season to complete the NFL’s biggest turnaround this year. Quarterback Jayden Daniels, the No. 2 pick in last year’s draft, is the presumptive offensive rookie of the year after passing for 3,568 yards and 25 touchdowns and rushing for 891 yards and six touchdowns, and the Commanders were fifth in the NFL in scoring (28.5 points per game).
CARLOS MONARREZ: Lions playoff prediction: Dan Campbell’s team succeeds, but Super Bowl is far away
The Lions advanced to the NFC Championship Game last season, but blew a 17-point halftime lead and lost to the San Francisco 49ers, 34-31.
Safety Ifetu Melifonwu said the Lions have their sights set on making the Super Bowl this year.
“That’s obviously the goal, but you can’t get there if you look beyond the first game,” he said. “That’s just my thought process. And then obviously I’ll watch the games, but once we find out who we’re playing, I’ll lock in and go back and watch tape on them.”
Running back David Montgomery is expected to return for the Lions next week after missing the last three games with a knee injury.
Dave Birkett is the author of the new book, “Detroit Lions: An illustrated chronology.
Contact him at [email protected]. Follow him on Bluesky, X and Instagram on @davebirkett.
This article was originally published on Detroit Free Press: Who do the Detroit Lions play in the 2025 NFL playoffs? Rams or Vikings
