After the Detroit Lions' heartbreaking loss to the Los Angeles Rams, their path to the playoffs was simple. They needed to win out.
There were a slew of other scenarios where the Lions could have afforded a loss, but the likelihood of the Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers dropping the necessary games was low, so the Lions just needed to take care of their own business.
Except the Bears and Packers did lose those games. The problem was so did the Lions.
The Lions did need the Packers to defeat the Bears for slightly better playoff odds.