The NFC North division has been one of the most interesting to follow this season. With a log jam at the top between the Chicago Bears, Detroit Lions and Green Bay Packers, each remaining game for the three playoff hopefuls becomes more important than the last. The Packers have been forced to endure life without quarterback Aaron Rodgers since the Super Bowl champion suffered a broken collarbone on November 4 against the Bears. Replacing Rodgers with Scott Tolzien and the recently re-acquired Matt Flynn, the Packers remain in the hunt for a division title despite going 0-3-1 since losing their QB.
While Green Bay hasn't played well in recent weeks, the Detroit Lions are in the midst of their own skid. Dropping consecutive decisions to the Pittsburgh Steelers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, quarterback Matthew Stafford and company don't seem to be the cohesive unit they were in the weeks prior to the losing streak. Looking to get his team back on the right track, Lions head coach Jim Schwartz told his team recently that there are still five weeks remaining for the club to establish themselves as the team to beat in the North.
"I think we all need to remind ourselves, like we did yesterday, that the fact is that there's five games remaining, and we're in first place," Schwartz said. "We need to conduct ourselves accordingly, and we can't worry what happened last week, we can't worry about what happened yesterday. We need to worry about what's going to happen in the future. I like our team's mindset ." Stafford and wideout Calvin Johnson - who have connected 66 times this season for 11 touchdowns - will look to exploit a Green Bay defense that is surrendering over 240 passing yards per game to opponents.
The Packers on the other hand, hope they're able to find a way to put up points against their NFC North rivals. Though Aaron Rodgers recently expressed his intent to play on Thanksgiving against Detroit, head coach Mike McCarthy said that he doesn't expect his star QB to be ready to go for the 21st Thanksgiving meeting between Green Bay and Detroit.
"I had a meeting with Aaron," McCarthy said. "He would like to go. "Frankly, based on the information where we are as far as the conversation with Aaron, the conversation with the medical staff, I would say he's slim to none, to give you what I'm thinking."
Even if Rodgers does not go, expect this meeting between the two rivals to be full of action with both teams in desperate need of a victory.
Green Bay Packers vs. Detroit Lions: DATE, TIME & TV INFO
DATE: Thursday, November 28
TIME: 12:30pm, ET
TV COVERAGE: FOX
LIVE STREAM: CLICK HERE
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