New on Sports Illustrated: Packers vs. Lions Live Stream: How to Watch, TV Channel, Start Time

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Find out how to watch Packers vs. Lions on Sunday.

It is not as easy as one, two, or three, but that is where the Green Bay Packers will be seeded for the NFC playoffs depending on their Sunday matchup with the Detroit Lions and what happens in games involving New Orleans vs. Carolina and Seattle vs. San Francisco. As Green Bay returns to the postseason for the first time in three seasons, the Lions (3-11-1) will miss out for the third straight year as they look to avoid their worst finish since going 2-14 in 2009.

How to Watch

When: Sunday, Dec. 29

Time: 1:00 p.m. ET

TV: FOX

Live Stream: fuboTV

(try for free)

The Packers (12-3) clinched their first NFC North title since 2016 with a 23-10 victory over the Minnesota Vikings on Monday night, sweeping the season series and giving first-year coach Matt LaFleur the chance to run the table against his division rivals in this contest.

The win also assured Green Bay it would be no worse than the No. 3 seed for the playoffs, though it can also claim a bye and possibly even the No. 1 seed and home-field advantage throughout the postseason if results break in their direction. The Packers will claim a bye to the divisional round with a victory in this game or a Saints loss to Carolina, and the road would go through “Titletown” if the Packers win and the 49ers lose to the Seahawks on Sunday night.

Aaron Jones picked an opportune time for his best game of the season, rushing for a career-high 154 yards and sealing the victory with a 56-yard touchdown run with 5:51 to play. The third-year running back is just 16 yards shy of being the first 1,000-yard rusher for the Packers since Eddie Lacey had 1,139 in 2014.

While Jones took center stage offensively, Green Bay’s defense was magnificent throughout the contest, recording five sacks and holding Minnesota to 139 total yards. Za’Darius Smith recorded 3.5 of the five sacks, furthering his career-best total to 13.5 in a dominant performance in which he had five tackles for losses, five quarterback hurries and seven tackles overall.

Aaron Rodgers did his part  to help keep the chains moving, completing 26 of 40 passes for 216 yards. In a sign of the better balance in Green Bay’s offense this year under LaFleur, Rodgers was held without a touchdown pass for the third time, but the Packers have won all three of those games.

Rodgers has thrived against the Lions over his career, going 14-5 while throwing for 4,809 yards and 39 touchdowns with only seven interceptions. He rallied Green Bay from a nine-point, fourth-quarter deficit to a 23-22 victory in Week 6, hooking up with Allen Lazard on a 35-yard touchdown pass before engineering a 14-play, 77-yard drive over the final 6:46, capped by Mason Crosby’s game-winning 23-yard field goal at the gun.

Detroit has lost eight straight games and dropped 11 of 12 after starting the season 2-0-1. The offense sputtered in a 27-17 loss at Denver last Sunday, finishing with a season-low 191 total yards. Yet the Lions carried the lead into the fourth quarter, before being let down by their defense that gave up a pair of touchdowns around an empty possession.

David Blough completed 12 of 24 passes for 117 yards and a TD, but was also sacked four times. Detroit’s two sustained scoring drives accounted for 22 of its 49 plays run as it had possession for less than 24 minutes. Jamal Agnew accounted for the Lions’ other touchdown with a 64-yard punt return -- his second runback for a score after returning a kickoff 100 yards vs. Philadelphia in Week 3.

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