ALLEN PARK -- The Detroit Lions (7-5) are well aware that their margin of error is "very small" through the season's final five games.
It's a hole they've dug themselves, losing three of their last seven games, sitting third in the division and on the outside of the NFC playoff picture. Detroit's loss to the Green Bay Packers was a crushing blow. By getting swept by the Packers, the path to the three-peat in the NFC North is essentially non-existent, while the window to even making the playoffs is murky and closing.
"So, of course, we've got to find a way to win, and we want to win," Lions coach Dan Campbell said on Sunday. "And I think, I go back to this, we just lost one. We've got to find a way to win this next one in front of us. And yeah, I mean, time's running out.
"It's all about finding a way to win the game. But I've also been in these now before, where we got counted out when I was a player. We lost two in a row, and we were almost mathematically eliminated from the playoffs. That was all the writing, and then we won out and got in ... That's the bottom line. We're in this business to win, we're trying to win, we've got to win."
Campbell was reminiscing about the 2002 New York Giants and their scramble to make the playoffs. The Giants won their final four games that season to make the wild-card round, finishing 10-6 before a 39-38 wild-card loss to the San Francisco 49ers.
To the Lions, every game from here on out has a "must-win" feeling to them. It all starts this Thursday night in Detroit when they host the surging Dallas Cowboys.
Dallas has won three straight to get to 6-5-1, including back-to-back victories over the two teams that played in the most recent Super Bowl (Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs). A win over the Cowboys puts the Lions right back in the mix while giving them the tie-breaker over an NFC team in the hunt for those final spots.
A loss, though? That would be a disastrous update to this dire situation. The Lions would need to essentially win out if they dropped Thursday's game against the Cowboys to avoid needing a ton of help elsewhere, and they know it.
Lions quarterback Jared Goff said, "They all feel that way from here on out," when asked about the must-win nature of the game against the Cowboys.
Dallas has transformed its defense to being powered by the interior game-wreckers of Kenny Clark and Quinnen Williams. Campbell has a ton of respect for Clark based on all the battles they had with him while he was still with the Packers. And the coach knows the pairing of Clark and Williams gives them a ton of firepower in the trenches.
Detroit started Trystan Colon at center against the Packers on Thanksgiving. Graham Glasgow's status remains up in the air, with Campbell not offering much of an update over the weekend.
Goff said he got into a groove with Colon during the game and felt the communication in the huddle and at the line of scrimmage was strong.
But he's well aware of the stakes in this upcoming game, and for the rest of the season, and will need that interior offensive line to hold things down.
"The last five will all feel must-win," Goff said. "You know, you say that, but there are a lot of things that can happen. And, of course, you want to win every game. And we want to win this one. This one's very important, and certainly it's an NFC opponent, a team that's in the playoff hunt just like we are."