DETROIT >> The Detroit Lions completed a season sweep of the Green Bay Packers with Thursday night’s 34-31 walk-off victory at Ford Field.

But many seem to believe that’s not the last time we’ve seen these two teams square off this season.

With the victory, the Lions punched their ticket to the playoffs and took a commanding lead in their quest for both the NFC North title and the NFC’s No. 1 seed, the latter of which would give Detroit home-field advantage throughout the playoffs and a first-round bye.

Entering the evening, Detroit had roughly a 67% chance to finish as the No. 1 seed and an 87% chance to win the division. With the victory, the No. 1 seed odds improved to 84% and the division odds to 94%.

The Packers, meanwhile, are firmly entrenched in a wild-card spot. At 9-4, they’re a game ahead of the Washington Commanders. That puts Green Bay in a position to travel for the opening round against a division winner that’s not the Philadelphia Eagles — which is to say, a division winner that likely will have a worse record than Green Bay, so advancing past the wild-card round becomes slightly easier.

The other two teams in line to host on wild-card weekend are the No. 3 seed Seattle Seahawks at 7-5 and the No. 4 seed Atlanta Falcons at 6-6. If the current seeding holds, the Packers would be in line to visit Detroit in the divisional round with a first-round playoff victory.“We’re definitely going to be back here,” Packers defensive tackle Kenny Clark said via The Athletic. “And we’ll be excited to play them again once we do.”

It’s tough to beat a team twice in one season — even harder to do it three times. But with home-field advantage and a defense that should have some fresh legs returning come January, the Lions are certainly up for the challenge. Detroit has won six of its last seven meetings with the Packers.

“I think in these last two years, we’ve been able to beat them a handful of times in a row. That doesn’t mean that we have some sort of magic over them — we’ve just been able to handle it and I think that they’re probably frustrated about it, and that’s OK,” Lions quarterback Jared Goff said. “They’re a good team and so are we.”

Assistants deserve credit, too

Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn has received a ton of praise for his ability to weather the storm of countless injuries to the front seven, and rightfully so. But the recent run of results warrants a hat tip to the position coaches on defense, too.

What linebackers coach Kelvin Sheppard and defensive line coach Terrell Williams have done with this patchwork group of defenders is nothing short of amazing and a major reason why Detroit has been able to sustain its success despite an inconceivable run of injuries.

In Thursday night’s win over Green Bay, the Lions recorded 16 pressures and a sack. Sure, former All-Pro running back Josh Jacobs had three touchdowns — but outside of his scores (all three were from 6 yards or less) the Lions didn’t give up much on the ground. Jacobs finished with 66 yards on 18 attempts (3.7 average).

Of course, it starts at the top. The Lions had a defensive line coach (Todd Wash) depart after the 2022 season and replaced him with John Scott. Well, the unit regressed. So what’d head coach Dan Campbell the Lions do about it? They immediately cut bait and upgraded to Williams, widely regarded as one of the best (if not the best) defensive line coaches in the league, who’s now spitting out pass rushers and gritty run defenders like sunflower seeds.

Sheppard, meanwhile, looks like a real up-and-comer in the coaching ranks after his unit has seen consistent development year over year. Whether it be Alex Anzalone and Jack Campbell or Trevor Nowaske and Kwon Alexander, there’s been minimal drop-off with the defense as a whole (all things considered) despite a truly insane amount of turnover in the room. If and when Glenn takes a head-coaching gig elsewhere, Sheppard will be on the fast track toward a coordinating gig of his own.

Bates delivers again

Lost in the shuffle of another playoff clincher, another 12-win season, another win over the Packers, was another massive winner off the leg of kicker Jake Bates.

After starting his career a perfect 19-for-19 on the field goals, Bates hit his first bump in the road when he missed a 45-yard field goal in the fourth quarter against Chicago.

“Just grow from it,” Bates said of his miss. “Luckily, it didn’t cost us a win, so whenever you learn that way, it’s a lot better than learning from a loss.”

He responded in the only way he knew how: By drilling a 43-yard field goal in the first quarter against Green Bay and knocking home the winner from 35 yards out as time expired.

“I think it gets dangerous if you start riding that roller coaster,” Bates said. “I’m trying to be that same person that I was when I was struggling in camp, and I’m trying to be the same person then that I am now, because this game is really hard and it can humble you really fast.”

Just before gametime Thursday, Bates was named the NFC’s Special Teams Player of the Month for November. By the end of the night, he had a commanding lead on winning the December award.