It is Thanksgiving Day in America on Thursday which means that we have a triple header of NFL 2025 action with the opening game, as is tradition, seeing the Detroit Lions playing a home match and they go up against their NFC North rivals Green Bay Packers.
These two sides sit half a game and a game behind the Chicago Bears in the race for the NFC North title so the winners here will do their title chances no harm at all but the losers will need a big finish to the season if they are to win the division.
Detroit Lions
The Detroit Lions are the reigning champions of the NFC North title but a 7-4 record only has them in third place in the table going into the week. They have the bonus of being at home on this holiday occasion and with this match being the Thursday night they have a mini-bye after this to recover and look to build some momentum for what they hope will be a strong finish to the season as they look to keep hold of their title and secure a home playoff match.
The Lions are currently on a bit of a win-loss run but at Ford Field things are much better for Detroit. They have won four of their five home matches this term with a field goal loss to the Minnesota Vikings not exactly the worst result in the world. The Lions will be out to avenge a week one loss to the Packers and you would imagine if that is to happen then Jahmyr Gibbs will be a leading light after his incredible showing against the Giants last week. On a short week he’ll be licking his lips.
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Green Bay Packers
The Green Bay Packers were a postseason outfit a year ago and they are on course to replicate that this term with their 7-3-1 record. At the minute that is only good enough for a wildcard spot but they will hope to upgrade that to the division title and the home game that comes with it, however they have the hardest remaining schedule in the league so they are going to need to be at their best if that is to happen. Green Bay have won their last three on their travels which is a positive.
Green Bay beat the Lions at Lambeau Field in the opening week of the season when their defence excelled. That was Micah Parsons’ debut and the Packers are probably going to need their defence to be good here because they are missing offensive weapons and also Detroit have a wonderful record this season when they reach 21 points so expect Green Bay to try and kill as much of the clock as they can as regularly as they can. That can only happen if they remain competitive in the game.
Betting
In terms of results, Green Bay Packers have gone well on their travels this season but they are only 1-4 against the spread and when you consider that the best record they have faced away from home this term is the 6-5 Pittsburgh Steelers, you could argue that the schedule has been fairly kind to them. Detroit Lions have won four of their five home matches on the year and that includes wins over Chicago Bears and Tampa Bay which bodes well for them.
Detroit have put up 24 points or more in all of their home matches this season including 52 on Chicago and 34 on the Browns and the Giants and on a short week you would imagine at some point the Green Bay defence will have the potential to gas, especially when needing to tackle Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery all night. Detroit have won three of the last four meetings between these two at Ford Field and covered a 2.5 spread in all of them. I fancy that streak to continue here with Green Bay just having an offensive injury too many which is starting to take its toll on its defence.
Tips
Back Detroit Lions (-2.5) to beat Green Bay Packers for a 3/10 stake at 1.80 with Coral
