Sunday-night showdown: Lions to host Rams, Stafford in wild-card round of the playoffs

Detroit — The Detroit Lions will welcome a familiar face to Ford Field for the first playoff game in the stadium's 21-year history. The team will open the wild-card round of the postseason against the Los Angeles Rams and former quarterback Matthew Stafford.

The game will be Sun., Jan. 14, at 8 p.m. It will air on NBC.

The Lions took care of business Sunday afternoon, besting the Minnesota Vikings, 30-20. Then the waiting game began, as the afternoon contests determined Detroit's foe.

Detroit had a long shot chance to secure the No. 2 seed in the NFC, but those hopes were washed away when the Dallas Cowboys blasted the Washington Commanders. That left the Lions with the No. 3 seed after securing the NFC North crown a few weeks back.

As the third seed, the Lions could only host either the Packers or Los Angeles Rams. The Packers beat the Bears, putting themselves in position to jump the Rams if they stumbled in their finale, but despite resting many of their key starters, including Stafford, the Rams were able to come from behind to knock off the San Francisco 49ers, 21-20.

A game between the Rams and Lions obviously carries a number of intriguing storylines. Beyond Stafford returning to Detroit for the first time, it will pit current Lions quarterback Jared Goff against the team that drafted him No. 1 overall in 2016 before trading him to Detroit in exchange for Stafford.

And the man who pulled the trigger on that deal, Lions general manager Brad Holmes, cut his teeth with the Rams, spending 18 seasons with the franchise, including the final eight as the team's director of college scouting.

jdrogers@detroitnews.com

@Justin_Rogers