Jim Caldwell cares deeply about making the playoffs, but he loathes the process it takes to get there.
Or talking about it at least.
Ten days before Thanksgiving, Caldwell insisted he's "not concerned with" magic numbers or what his team needs to do to make the postseason, or anything really beyond Sunday's game with the Chicago Bears.
"I've told you guys that a thousand times, and it's a fact," Caldwell said. "It's one game. If that game just so happens to be the trigger game somewhere down the line, then it's one game. So that's all we focus in on."
That myopic approach has worked well for Caldwell in the past, as he has led the Lions to the playoffs in two of the past three years. But for everyone not bound by coach-speak, the playoffs are and should be the only concern.
The Lions inched back over the .500 mark with Sunday's too-close-for-comfort win over the Cleveland Browns, but they still have a long way to go to make the postseason.
Projecting ahead, the Lions will need at least 10 wins to win the NFC North or earn a wild-card spot, and even that might not be enough. The Carolina Panthers, Atlanta Falcons and New Orleans Saints all hold tiebreakers against the Lions based on head-to-head results, and the Minnesota Vikings have a two-game lead in the division thanks to one of the NFL's best defenses.
If the playoffs started this week, the Vikings (7-2), Philadelphia Eagles (8-1), Saints (7-2) and Los Angeles Rams (7-2) would be division winners, and the Seattle Seahawks (6-3) and Panthers (6-3) would get wild-card berths.
Here's a look at the NFC playoff picture, and what the Lions _ who have the most favorable schedule of the group _ need to do to work their way in.
