Pressure is on Green Bay Packers to Keep Detroit Lions Winless

While the Minnesota Vikings and Chicago Bears will have the pressure of fighting for a playoff spot in the NFL's final regular season week, the Green Bay Packers will be facing a much different type of pressure this Sunday.

The only 0-15 team in NFL history, the Detroit Lions, come to Green Bay. Only the Packers stand in the way of the Lions becoming the NFL's first 0-16 team, and the pressure that losing to this team brings to the table will be hard to ignore come gametime.

Packers linebacker Brady Poppinga wasn't bashful when asked what a loss to the Lions would mean. "That would be really embarrassing," he said. "They're facing the embarrassment of going 0-16. We understand that."

And this game is about more then just 0-16. It's about the Packers' pride—they haven't won in over a month. It's about Lambeau Field, a site where the Lions haven't beaten the Packers there since 1991.

And above all, it's about Packer fans. We've gone through a summer of hell, a summer that divided our fan base and rattled our trust. We've just suffered through one of the hardest seasons in 20 years; a season that has seen the Packers lose seven games by less than a touchdown.

A loss to the 0-15 Detroit Lions would put a dagger through Packer fans' hearts that would take years to heal. We'd be hearing about this loss for decades to come from media outlets and rival fans alike.

So what does all this equal for the Packers? A huge amount of pressure to perform placed on them Sunday. The NFL has a big weekend ahead of it, but the game everyone will be keeping their eye on will be Packers-Lions. If the Lions win this game, Green Bay will forever be linked to the ineptitude that steams from the worst team in NFL history.

Don't get me wrong, Packers coach Mike McCarthy is saying all the right things. When asked about what would happen if the Packers lost Sunday, he simply responded that "I don't ever talk about losing." When asked if this game was going to be treated any differently, he replied that the Packers will "treat the Lions no different than any other opponent we're facing."

McCarthy should be saying these things. His underachieving Packers don't have much to be proud of either, so McCarthy should be the last coach to talk down an opponent. But you have to believe that that's been a driving force to motivate his team all week.

Besides, this team is probably going to need some motivation. If any team was going to give up on a season, you'd think it'd be these Packers. Losers of five in a row, four by less than a touchdown, it would be conceivable that players would start to think about their offseason plans rather than focus on beating the Lions this week.

But so help me, if Green Bay loses this game, immediate things need to happen. Sure, it would be a knee-jerk reaction, but I don't think McCarthy can keep his job if he loses this game. Who knows, even Ted Thompson's job could be on the line this week, and his trading of Brett Favre this summer would have nothing to do with it.

Thompson's record as general manager is below .500, and the rookies he drafted this past season have had little impact on a 5-10 team. Everyone has been calling for his head all season, so this could be your nail in his coffin on Sunday.

Overall, it all adds up to one hell of a pressured-packed game for Green Bay Sunday. Who could have thought that a 5-10 football team could be facing the most pressure of any team playing on the final Sunday of regular season games?

Good luck to the Green and Gold, and to all Packer fans—it's going to be a nerve-racking three hours tomorrow.