Where do the Lions sit in the NFC playoff picture after Week 13?

The playoff picture in the NFC is becoming clearer as the Detroit Lions stare down their five remaining games this season.

After losing to the Green Bay Packers on Thanksgiving, and big wins by the Dallas Cowboys, Chicago Bears, and Carolina Panthers in Week 13, the Lions are officially "on the bubble." If the season ended today, the Lions would miss the playoffs for the first time since the 2022-23 season.

"We’ve got to find a way to win this next one in front of us," Lions head coach Dan Campbell said on Sunday. "And yeah, I mean, time’s running out."

No teams have clinched any playoff spots, but three NFC teams have been eliminated after Sunday's results. The current seeding in order as of Monday is:

1. Bears

2. Rams

3. Eagles

4. Buccaneers

5. Seahawks

6. Packers

7. 49ers

NFC North Race

The Lions are in third place in the NFC North entering Week 14 at 7-5. Losing to the Packers, who are now 8-3-1, also loses Detroit its potential tiebreaker should they finish with the same record as Green Bay.

The Chicago Bears currently sit in first place in the division and in the conference thanks to the Los Angeles Rams' loss on Sunday. The Bears still have two meetings with the Packers on their schedule, including this Sunday in Green Bay. They also have a rematch with the Lions lined up for Week 18 in Chicago, which would impact their head-to-head tiebreaker since the Lions defeated the Bears in Week 2.

In order to win the division at this point, the Lions would likely need to win out, have the Bears sweep the Packers, and also have the Bears lose one of their other games against either the San Francisco 49ers or Cleveland Browns. The chances of that scenario are pretty low, leaving the Lions to most likely be fighting for a Wild Card berth.

Wild Card Race

It's too soon to get into the convoluted scenarios that determine whether or not the Lions make the playoffs, but their situation through Week 13 is manageable. Unfortunately, the 8th-place Lions have the seventh-most difficult remaining schedule in the NFL as of now.

The Lions will face the surging Dallas Cowboys (6-5-1) this Thursday. The Cowboys are sitting in ninth place in the NFC and are the most direct threat to the Lions' playoff chances. Should the Lions fall to the Cowboys, their chances of making the playoffs may as well completely evaporate.

The only other threat sitting below them is the Carolina Panthers (7-6) who are coming off of their upset against the Rams. The Panthers are entering their bye week but are on the trail of the 7-5 Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the NFC South. They have two more head-to-head meetings, but it's too soon to determine how those results would best suit the Lions down the stretch.

The three teams keeping the Lions out of the Wild Card picture through 13 weeks are the Packers, the Seattle Seahawks, and the San Francisco 49ers. The Seahawks and 49ers both have nine wins and will play each other once, but the Seahawks still have their second matchup with the Rams coming up.

The Lions are the first team on the outside looking in entering Week 14, but will need to put a string of wins together in order to make their third consecutive playoff appearance.

This article originally appeared on Lions Wire: Where do the Lions sit in the NFC playoff picture after Week 13?