GREEN BAY (9-6) AT DETROIT (9-6)
Sunday, Jan. 1 l Ford Field l 7:30 p.m. CST
The Green Bay Packers travel to Detroit to play the Lions in the final game of the regular season.
Green Bay will be playing for the NFC North title in Week 17 for the fourth consecutive season. The Packers are 2-1 in the previous three games.
For the second consecutive season, the Packers’ final regular-season game was flexed to 7:30 p.m., marking the sixth primetime game Green Bay will play this season. The Packers are 3-2 in primetime games this year.
The Packers are finishing the regular season in Detroit for the first time since 1993.
Green Bay and Detroit have met in the final game of the regular season 13 times, with both teams winning six games and one ending in a tie. The Packers have won each of the last four matchups between the two teams in the final game of the regular season (2014, 2011, 2008, 2007).
Green Bay has won five consecutive games (longest current streak in the NFC), becoming the only team in the NFL to have a winning streak of four-plus games in each of the last eight seasons (2009-16). The Packers have registered a winning streak of four-plus games in 10 of 11 seasons under Head Coach Mike McCarthy.
Green Bay has won seven of 10 games at Ford Field under McCarthy.
It will be only the third time the Packers have played at the Lions during the regular season in the month of January (1983, 1994).
The rivalry actually kicked off in 1930 at City Stadium in Green Bay, a 47-13 Packers win. Two seasons later, the teams began a yearly series. Sunday marks meeting No. 175 in the all-time series (including playoffs).
The Packers lead the regular-season series, 97-68-7 (.584), and have won both postseason contests the two have played. Green Bay’s 97 wins over the Lions are the most the Packers have against any team.
Green Bay has a 17-4 mark (.810) against the Lions under McCarthy.
Of the 17 wins over Detroit, nine have been decided by 10 points or more, including four by more than 20 points.
The Packers have won 18 of the last 22 against Detroit and 26 of the last 32 in the series.
QB Aaron Rodgers has led the Packers to 12 wins in 15 games against the Lions, completing 303 of 457 passes for 3,758 yards, 30 touchdowns and six interceptions with a passer rating of 108.0.
Rodgers has recorded a 100-plus passer rating 10 times against Detroit, including recording a rating of 129.3 by completing 15 of 24 passes for 205 yards, four touchdowns and zero interceptions in the first meeting this season.
Rodgers has led Green Bay to five wins in seven starts at Detroit, throwing 13 touchdowns with just three interceptions and a passer rating of 105.6 in those games.
This is the last of three straight games against division opponents. It is the first time since 2006 that the Packers will finish the regular season with three straight games against NFC North opponents.
WITH THE CALL
NBC will broadcast the game to a national audience. Play-by-play man Al Michaels joins analyst Cris Collinsworth in the booth with Michele Tafoya reporting from the sidelines.
Milwaukee’s WTMJ (620 AM), airing Green Bay games since November 1929, heads up the Packers Radio Network that is made up of 50 stations in five states. Wayne Larrivee (play-by-play) and two-time Packers Pro Bowler Larry McCarren (analyst) call the action. McCarren first joined the team’s broadcasts in 1995 and enters his 22nd season calling Packers games. After originally being paired together in 1999, McCarren and Larrivee enter their 18th season of broadcasts together.
Westwood One Sports will air the game on radio across the country. Kevin Kugler (play-by-play) and James Lofton (analyst) will call the action, with Scott Graham hosting the pregame and halftime shows.
The broadcast is also available on Sirius Satellite Radio (WTMJ feed).
THE DOPE ON THIS WEEK’S OPPONENT:
Packers vs. Lions:
All-time, Regular season: 97-68-7
All-time, Postseason: 2-0
All-time, in Detroit: 40-41-2
Streaks: The Packers have won two straight.
Last meeting, regular season:
Sept. 25, 2016; Packers won, 34-27, Lambeau Field
COACHES CAPSULES
Mike McCarthy: 121-68-1, .639 (incl. 8-7 postseason); 11th NFL season
Jim Caldwell: 55-45-0, .550 (incl. 2-3 postseason); 6th NFL season
Head to Head: McCarthy 3-2
vs. Opponent: McCarthy 17-4 vs. Lions; Caldwell 2-3 vs. Packers
MIKE McCARTHY…Is in his 11th year as the Packers’ 14th head coach.
Joined Vince Lombardi and Mike Holmgren as the only coaches to guide the Packers to a Super Bowl title with a win over Pittsburgh in Super Bowl XLV.
Led the Packers to their seventh consecutive playoff appearance last season, joining New England as the only two NFL teams to do so over that span. Has also led the team to eight playoff appearances in the last nine years (2007, 2009-15).
Guided the Packers to top-10 finishes in scoring in eight straight seasons (2007-14), joining the Patriots as the only other team to accomplish the feat over that time; Packers finished first overall in scoring in 2014.
His .649 winning percentage during the regular season (113-61-1) ranks No. 2 among active NFL head coaches (min. 50 games).
Had 104 regular-season wins in his first 10 seasons as a head coach, ranking No. 3 in NFL history.
JIM CALDWELL…Is in his third year as the Lions’ 23rd head coach.
Coached Indianapolis to 14 wins and an appearance in Super Bowl XLIV in his first season as head coach (2009).
Despite his offensive background, improved Detroit’s overall defense from No. 16 to No. 2 in the NFL after one season.
As Baltimore’s offensive coordinator, coached Ravens QB Joe Flacco to become the second QB in NFL history to throw 11 TDs and 0 INTs en route to a Super Bowl title in a postseason (Montana, 1989).
Led the Lions’ passing offense to top-15 rankings in each of his first two seasons at the helm.
Became the first coach in franchise history to win 11 games in his first year since 1931 when the team was Portsmouth Spartans.
THE PACKERS-LIONS SERIES
Green Bay won 29 of the first 38 matchups in the series before the Lions’ 11 straight wins over a five-year span.
The first playoff matchup was in the Wild Card round of the 1993 season, which saw QB Brett Favre find WR Sterling Sharpe for a game-winning 40-yard score with less than a minute to go, marking the first playoff win for the Packers in more than 10 years.
The Packers’ victories in the 1993 and `94 postseasons began Detroit’s seven-game, 24-year drought without a playoff victory.
Detroit last swept a season series against Green Bay in 1991.
NOTABLE CONNECTIONS
Packers LB Nick Perry is from Detroit...Packers G T.J. Lang is from Birmingham, Mich., and attended Eastern Michigan...Green Bay WR Jeff Janis played at Saginaw Valley State and grew up in Tawas City, Mich. ...Detroit head coach Jim Caldwell was inducted into the Beloit (Wis.) Memorial High School Hall of Fame in 2011...Caldwell was also inducted into the Wisconsin Football Coaches Hall of Fame in 2013...Lions TE Matthew Mulligan was with the Packers during the 2013 offseason and preseason...Lions LB DeAndre Levy went to Vincent High in Milwaukee, Wis., and played at Wisconsin from 2005-08...Green Bay LB Jake Ryan played at Michigan from 2011-14 and was teammates with Detroit C Graham Glasgow (2012-14)...Packers defensive front assistant Jerry Montgomery (2011-12) coached for the Wolverines...Green Bay defensive line coach Mike Trgovac played and was a graduate assistant at Michigan...Green Bay running backs coach Ben Sirmans coached from 2005-06 at Michigan State...Packers wide receivers coach Luke Getsy coached at Western Michigan in 2013...Lions DT Khyri Thornton originally was a third-round pick (85th overall) of the Packers in 2014...Packers vice president of football administration/player finance Russ Ball (1995-98), head coach Mike McCarthy (1995-98), associate head coach/offense Tom Clements (2000) and special teams coordinator Ron Zook (1999) worked with Lions senior coaching advisor Gunther Cunningham in Kansas City...Cunningham coached Green Bay associate head coach/linebackers Winston Moss when he played linebacker for the Los Angeles Raiders from 1991-93...Clements (2002-03) and Packers secondary-safeties coach Darren Perry (2003-06) worked with Detroit defensive assistant/defensive ends coach Matt Raich in Pittsburgh...Detroit defensive coordinator Teryl Austin coached in Seattle from 2003-04 when Packers executive vice president, general manager & director of football operations Ted Thompson was the Seahawks’ vice president of football operations...Lions defensive backs/safeties coach Alan Williams coached Packers DT Letroy Guion in Minnesota from 2012-13...Packers RB Christine Michael played in Seattle with Detroit WR Golden Tate in 2013...Lions defensive backs/cornerbacks coach Tony Oden (2004-05) and special teams coordinator Joe Marciano (2002-05) coached in Houston when Packers defensive coordinator Dom Capers was the Texans’ head coach...Capers and Marciano coached in New Orleans from 1986-91...Green Bay tight ends coach Brian Angelichio worked in Tampa Bay with Oden (2013) and Lions linebackers coach Bill Sheridan (2012-13)...Angelichio coached in Cleveland with Lions quality control/offensive line coach Michael McCarthy in 2015...Lions running backs coach David Walker coached at Pittsburgh with Angelichio (2006-10) and Getsy (2010)...Lions LB Thurston Armbrister and TE Clay Harbor played with Green Bay LB Jordan Tripp in 2015 in Jacksonville...Detroit T Riley Reiff played with Packers DB Micah Hyde and DT Mike Daniels from 2009-11, T Bryan Bulaga in 2009, and was coached by assistant offensive line coach David Raih from 2010-11 at Iowa...Zook coached Detroit S Tavon Wilson at Illinois from 2008-11...Lions CB Nevin Lawson played at Utah State with Packers S Marwin Evans (2013) and LB Kyler Fackrell (2012-13)...Green Bay CB LaDarius Gunter played with Lions CB Thurston Armbrister and both were coached by Detroit tight ends coach Al Golden at Miami from 2012-14...Lions T Taylor Decker played at Ohio State with Green Bay C Corey Linsley from 2012-13...Packers WR Jordy Nelson was coached at Kansas State by Lions assistant head coach/offensive line Ron Prince (2006-07) and tight ends coach Devin Fitzsimmons (2007)...Prince was Colorado’s passing game coordinator in 2010 when he coached Green Bay T David Bakhtiari ...Lions quarterbacks coach Brian Callahan coached Bakhtiari at Junipero Serra High (San Mateo, Calif.) in 2008.
LAST MEETING, REGULAR SEASON
Sept. 25, 2016, Lambeau Field, Packers won, 34-27
WR Jordy Nelson led the Packers to a 31-10 halftime lead, catching six passes for 101 yards (16.8 avg.) and two TDs in the first half.
Lions QB Matthew Stafford finished 28 of 41 (68.3 percent) for 385 yards with three TDs and one INT (112.3 passer rating).
RB Eddie Lacy finished with 103 rushing yards on 17 carries (6.1 avg) while QB Aaron Rodgers completed 15 of 24 attempts (62.5 percent) for 205 yards and four TDs (129.3 passer rating).
Detroit WR Marvin Jones had six receptions for 205 yards (34.2 avg.) and two TDs.
