The Green Bay Packers travel to Detroit to play the Lions at Ford Field in the final regular-season game.
The Packers and Lions have met in the final game of the regular season 14 times, with Green Bay holding a 7-6-1 record in those contests. The Packers have won each of the last five matchups between the two teams in the final game of the regular season (2016, 2014, 2011, 2008, 2007).
Green Bay closes out the regular season at Detroit for the second consecutive year, marking the first time it has finished the regular season on the road against the same team in back-to-back seasons since 1991-92 (Minnesota).
Since 2006, the Packers are 9-2 in the final game of the regular season. Green Bay’s .818 winning percnetage in Week 17 is tied with San Francisco for No. 2 in the NFL over that span (Pittsburgh, 10-1, .909).
The Packers are also tied for No. 2 in the NFL since 2006 with an .800 winning percentage (4-1) on the road in final game of the regular season.
uThe Packers are 8-3 at Detroit under Head Coach Mike McCarthy, including a 31-24 victory in Week 17 last season to win the NFC North.
Green Bay has an 18-5 mark (.783) against the Lions under McCarthy.
Of the 18 wins over Detroit, nine have been decided by 10 points or more, including four by more than 20 points.
Four of the last five games between the two have a point differential of seven points or less, with Green Bay winning three of those contests.
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. 177 in the all-time series (including playoffs).
The Packers lead the regular-season series, 98-69-7 (.583), and have won both postseason contests the two have played.
Green Bay’s 98 regular-season wins over the Lions are the most the Packers have against any team.
The Packers have won 19 of the last 24 against Detroit and 27 of the last 34 in the series.
WITH THE CALL
FOX Sports, now in its 24th season as an NFL network television partner, will broadcast the game.
Play-by-play man Dick Stockton joins analyst Mark Schlereth and sideline reporter Shannon Spake.
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 23rd season calling Packers games. After originally being paired together in 1999, McCarren and Larrivee enter their 19th season of broadcasts together. On Sunday, they will tie Jim Irwin and Max McGee for the most regular-season and postseason games broadcast for the Packers.
The broadcast is also available on Sirius Satellite Radio (WTMJ feed).
DIRECTV subscribers can watch the game on Channel 712.
BREAKING DOWN THE ROSTER
The Packers currently have a 53-man roster that is composed of 25 offensive players, 25 defensive players and three specialists.
Of the 53 players on Green Bay’s roster, 31 of them (58.5 percent) were draft picks of the Packers. Dating back to 2007, Green Bay has at least one member of each draft class still on the roster.
Green Bay has 17 players on the roster that began their careers as undrafted free agents, with 12 of those originally signed by Green Bay.
Over a third (41.5 percent) of the players (22 of 53) on Green Bay’s roster entered the league as a sixth-round or seventh-round pick or as an undrafted player.
The Packers have four players on the roster that played in the NFL prior to the 2009 season. Three of the four players were draft picks of the Packers (K Mason Crosby , WR Jordy Nelson and LB Clay Matthews ) and three have made at least one Pro Bowl.
Of the 53 players on the roster, 43 began their pro careers with the Packers (81.1 percent).
Only 16 of the 53 players on the roster (30.2 percent) were selected in the first three rounds of the draft, with 14 being drafted by the Packers.
GREEN BAY’S ROSTER ...
BY AGE (as of Dec. 31)
21-24: 23 players
25-28: 23 players
29-32: 3 players
33-plus: 4 players
BY EXPERIENCE
R-1: 17 players
2-3: 15 players
4-5: 9 players
6-9: 7 players
10-plus: 5 players
BY DRAFT ROUND
1st: 5 players
2nd/3rd: 11 players
4th/5th: 15 players
6th/7th: 5 players
Undrafted: 17 players
THE DOPE ON THIS WEEK’S OPPONENT:
Packers vs. Lions
All-time, Regular season: 98-69-7
All-time, Postseason: 2-0
All-time, at Ford Field: 10-5
Streaks: The Packers have won three out of the last four meetings and nine of the last 13 against the Lions. Green Bay is 39-14 against Detroit since the start of the 1992 season.
Last meeting, regular season: Nov. 6, 2017; Lions won, 30-17, Lambeau Field
COACHES CAPSULES
Mike McCarthy: 131-77-1, .629 (incl. 10-8 postseason); 12th NFL season
Jim Caldwell: 63-54-0, .544 (incl. 2-4 postseason); 7th NFL season
Head to Head: McCarthy 4-3
vs. Opponent: McCarthy 18-5 vs. Lions; Caldwell 3-4 vs. Packers
MIKE McCARTHY…Is in his 12th year as the Packers’ 14th head coach.
Led the Packers to their eighth consecutive playoff appearance last season, tied for the fourth-longest streak in NFL history. Has also led the team to nine playoff appearances in the last 10 years (2007, 2009-16).
Ranks second in franchise history in total victories, trailing only Curly Lambeau.
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.
Reached the 100-win plateau faster than any active NFL head coach, needing just 155 games.
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.
JIM CALDWELL …Is in his fourth year as the Lions’ 23rd head coach.
Had 23 wins in his first three seasons as the Lions’ head coach, the most in any head coach’s first three seasons in Detroit history.
Joined Buddy Parker and Bobby Ross as the third coach in Lions history to lead their teams to two playoff appearances in their first three years.
Became the first coach in franchise history to win 11 games in his first year since 1931 when the team was the Portsmouth Spartans.
Coached Indianapolis to 14 wins and an appearance in Super Bowl XLIV in his first season as head coach (2009).
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).
THE PACKERS-LIONS SERIES
Last season’s Week 17 matchup gave the Packers franchise their 100th win (including playoffs) against the Lions franchise. Green Bay’s 100 victories against Detroit are the club’s most against any one opponent.
Green Bay won 29 of the first 38 matchups in the series before the Lions’ 11 straight wins over a six-year span (1949-54).
The teams have met twice in the postseason, with the first playoff matchup in the Wild Card round of the 1993 season. That game 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.
NOTABLE CONNECTIONS
Packers LB Nick Perry is from Detroit...Green Bay WR Jeff Janis played at Saginaw Valley State and grew up in Tawas City, Mich. ...Green Bay S Josh Jones attended Walled Lake Western High School in Walled Lake, Mich. … Green Bay LB Jake Ryan played at Michigan from 2011-14...Lions G T.J. Lang originally entered the NFL as a fourth-round pick of the Packers in 2009 and spent eight seasons in Green Bay…Lang was a member of Green Bay’s Super Bowl XLV-winning squad…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...Detroit T Rick Wagner is from West Allis, Wis., and was a team captain while starting 37 games during his college career at Wisconsin…Lions LB Nick Bellore is a Whitefish Bay, Wis., native… Packers defensive front assistant Jerry Montgomery (2011-12) coached for the University of Michigan...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… Packers secondary-safeties coach Darren Perry (2003-06) worked with Detroit assistant defensive line 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/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... Packers LB Ahmad Brooks , DT Quinton Dial and Bellore teamed together in San Francisco for two seasons with the 49ers…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 offensive line – quality control coach Michael McCarthy in 2015...Lions running backs coach David Walker coached at Pittsburgh with Angelichio (2006-10) and Getsy (2010)...Packers special teams coordinator Ron Zook coached Detroit LB Akeem Spence at Illinois while Zook was the Illini’s head coach...Packers WR Jordy Nelson was coached at Kansas State by Lions assistant head coach/offensive line Ron Prince (2006-07) and assistant special teams coach Devin Fitzsimmons (2007)...Detroit WRs coach Robert 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…Lions offensive assistant – special projects George Godsey coached at Central Florida while Packers G Justin McCray played for the Knights…Packers P Justin Vogel played at Miami when Lions TEs coach Al Golden was the Hurricanes’ head coach…Golden was also Brooks’ defensive coordinator during his collegiate career at Virginia…Notable college teammates include: Packers WR Davante Adams and Lions S Charles Washington (Fresno State), Detroit DT A’Shawn Robinson and Green Bay S Ha Ha Clinton-Dix (Alabama), Packers RB Jamaal Williams and Lions DE Ezekiel Ansah (Brigham Young), Packers TE Richard Rodgers and Lions WR Marvin Jones Jr. (California), Ryan and Lions C Graham Glasgow (Michigan), Detroit T Taylor Decker and Green Bay C Corey Linsley (Ohio State), and Lions CB Nevin Lawson, Packers S Marwin Evans and LB Kyler Fackrell (Utah State).
