The Detroit Lions are so close. In the history of the Super Bowl era, the Lions have never finished in first place in the NFC. But at the end of this Monday night, the Lions could find themselves in this situation.

Regardless of what happens in Week 17, the Lions can clinch the NFC North and the No. 1 seed by simply beating the Minnesota Vikings in the regular-season finale. But why wait? Why leave it to a single outcome?

On Sunday, the Lions could be just one win away from getting it all, giving them a chance to win on the same field where their season ended last year: Levi’s Stadium against the San Francisco 49ers.

Let’s get into our week 17 rooting guide.

The only game that really matters

Packers (11-4) at Vikings (13-2) – 4:25 p.m. ET – FOX

Who you can be excited about: packer

If the Vikings lose and the Lions beat the 49ers, that’s it. The Lions are the top seed in the NFC and get a bye in the first round. Theoretically there would be the Lions two Bye weeks, because that would make their game in Week 18 completely irrelevant. Dan Campbell may still want to keep some of his players fresh, but if he wanted to he could give his players a few weeks to rest their bodies.

Green Bay doesn’t have a ton of motivation to win this game since they’re already in the playoffs and can’t win the division, but the difference between the fifth and seventh seeds could be pretty big – and the Packers still could be is ahead of the Vikings in the seeding list.

“All the motivation is there,” Packers quarterback Jordan Love said this week. “A division opponent. Obviously they beat us in the first game. We go to them. We want to get some of the revenge we seek. So there is the greatest motivation in the world. Like you said, we’ve already won. We’re trying to get down there and take care of business in the NFC North, where we’ve already lost a few games this year. We have to get a win.”

The game that only matters when something rare happens

Cowboys (7-8) at Eagles (12-3) – 1 p.m. ET – FOX

Who to get excited about: Cowboys

In almost every possible scenario, the Lions end the season at either No. 1 or No. 5. The Eagles don’t play a role in either scenario. But there is one more outcome that would leave the Eagles in 1st place and the Lions in 2nd place. The following should happen:

• The Lions lose to the 49ers
• The Vikings lose to the Packers
• Vikings and Lions meet in Week 18
• The Eagles win

In this case, the Eagles would win the NFC at 14-3, while the Lions and Vikings would finish at 13-3-1. Detroit would still win the tiebreaker over the Vikings and win the division, but the Eagles obviously have the better record and get the first round bye.

If the Eagles lose one of their remaining games, there is no scenario in which the Lions win the NFC North but do not receive a first-round bye.

The “little” rooting guide

These games don’t have a significant impact on the Lions’ playoff chances, but we’re rooting for each other one way or another because we’re petty.

Jets (4-11) at Bills (12-3) – 1 p.m. ET – CBS

Who to keep your fingers crossed for: 0-0 draw

I can’t support Aaron Rodgers. I can’t support either team that beat the Lions. I hope this game challenges Thursday night’s Bears/Seahawks contest as one of the worst games in NFL history. Rodgers and Josh Allen combined for 15 interceptions.

Panthers (4-11) at Buccaneers (8-7) – 1 p.m. ET – CBS

Who to root for: Panthers

Again, screw the teams that beat the Lions. This would be a critical loss for the Bucs because if they lose and the Falcons beat the Commanders, they would be eliminated from postseason contention.

Admittedly, a Panthers win is also a bit bad for Detroit. Carolina is competing with the Bears for a high draft pick. So if you want to be extremely Petty, hoping the Bears’ draft pick turns out to be as bad as possible, you want the following teams to lose this week:

• Giants
• Jaguars
• Titans
• Brown tones
• robber
• Jets
• Saints

Falcons (8-7) at Commanders (10-5) – 8:20 p.m. ET – NBC

Who to root for: Falcons

While I think it would be funny if the Eagles somehow lost their NFC East lead to the Commanders, I honestly would rather the Falcons make the playoffs than the Buccaneers. I’m not afraid of Atlanta at all. Tampa defeated Detroit. Come on, hawks!