Detroit Lions @ Green Bay Packers Sun. Jan. 1, 2012 1 p.m. EST

The end of the 2011 NFL regular season is upon us and despite the lack of compelling matchups, there might be a few games to watch in the regular season finale with the Detroit Lions taking on the defending Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers being potentially an intriguing showdown between NFC North division rivals.

With both the Lions and the Packers clinching playoffs spots, this game isn’t all that important for either team as Green Bay has already clinched the top seed in the NFC Conference and Detroit can’t go much higher than the fifth seed. With all that being said, there isn’t much to benefit from a win in Week 17 and these two teams might be looking at resting their starters as a result.

Despite nothing being on the line in the regular season finale for these two NFC North heavyweights, the Detroit Lions might come into this game looking to avenge the loss to Green Bay back on Thanksgiving Day. The Lions were dominated by the Packers on that holiday a little more than month ago and with Detroit seemingly back to form, they might look to put up a big number on their division rivals with a big performance in the first half of this game.

As of right now, the Detroit Lions are the favorites to come out on top in this NFC North showdown with a -4 point spread. Even though there isn’t much to gain for either team in the final game of the regular season, I believe the Lions will get the win and hand the Packers their second loss of the season before heading into the playoffs.

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