Which teams will take the field in primetime for Sunday Night Football in Week 8 of the 2017 NFL season, featuring a big inter-conference matchup?
The Detroit Lions will be preparing to host the Pittsburgh Steelers in a primetime matchup on Sunday Night Football in Week 8. The Lions are now 3-3 after losing their last two games but are coming off the bye. The Steelers are now 5-2, outscoring their opponents 48-27 over the last two games after being outscored 30-9 in Week 5 by the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Ben Roethlisberger, who threw five interceptions in the Jacksonville game, has thrown for three touchdowns and just one interception over the last two weeks.
Both the Steelers and Lions are already looking towards the playoffs in a sense. Pittsburgh finds themselves in a three-way tie for the best record in the AFC with the Kansas City Chiefs and New England Patriots. The Steelers have already defeated the Chiefs this season and have a Week 15 matchup with the Patriots looming.
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The Steelers, Chiefs, and Patriots are three teams known to have outstanding home-field advantages. Pittsburgh obviously wants to secure a first-round bye in the playoffs and cannot afford to drop games with so many good teams on their heels.
Meanwhile, the Lions find themselves in third place in an NFC North division in which no other team is using the quarterbacks they started the season with. Both the Green Bay Packers and the Minnesota Vikings have lost their starting quarterbacks to injury.
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The Lions should be at a huge advantage to win this division but find themselves a game and a half behind the first-place Vikings. If Detroit wants to win the division and prove that they are a serious playoff contender then it starts with getting a win at home this week.