Vikings-Lions will be the biggest regular season finale in decades

The NFL has done the right thing and flexed Vikings-Lions to Sunday night in Week 18. While Detroit still has its Week 17 game to play -- Monday night against the San Francisco 49ers -- no matter what happens in that game, Minnesota-Detroit next Sunday will be for the NFC North and one-seed in the NFC.

The stakes are massive. The winner will secure a bye to the divisional round and home-field advantage throughout the NFC playoffs while the loser will get the five-seed and will play at the NFC South winner or Los Angeles Rams in the Wild Card round. This is the first time a matchup in the final week of the regular season will determine a conference's No. 1 seed since 1993.

The Week 18 game between the Lions and Vikings will be the first final week matchup that will determine a conference’s number one seed since the Cowboys and Giants played in the final week of the 1993 season.

Hard to find better Week 18 stakes.
— Field Yates (@FieldYates) December 30, 2024

The Cowboys won that game at Giants Stadium and went on to win their second straight Super Bowl against the Buffalo Bills, whereas the Giants lost in the divisional round the 49ers.

This year's battle for the one seed will be played at Detroit's Ford Field, where the Lions have suffered their only two losses of the season. If the Vikings-Lions first matchup of the year is anything like what we'll get on Sunday we are in for a doozy.

The Lions knocked off the 5-0 Vikings in Minneapolis 31-29 in Week 6 in an absolute thriller. After Minnesota jumped out to a 10-0 lead after the first quarter, Detroit scored 21 straight points and took a 21-10 lead into halftime. The Vikings took the lead with under six minutes to play after a scoop n' score, but Jared Goff led the Lions on a game-winning drive that ended with a Jake Bates 44-yard field goal and Detroit has held onto first place in the NFC North ever since.

That's no minor accomplishment. The North is the best division in football, with three teams that will finish with more than 11 wins for the first time since the AFC East in 1985. Vikings-Lions will kick off at 8:20 p.m. on Sunday. The game will be broadcast on NBC and streaming on Peacock.