Football has always been a game of inches – both on the field and in the table.

Sunday was the perfect example of this.

The Green Bay Packers would have moved into a tie for No. 1 in the NFC with a win over Detroit. Instead, the Packers plummeted to No. 7 after falling to the Lions 24-14.

“It’s definitely tough,” Packers fullback Christian Watson said. “I don’t like a loss, especially one that could have put us in first place in the (conference).

“Obviously it’s a divisional competition game, so it’s definitely tough. But we can't let that affect us the next time we're on the field. We just have to learn from it, get our bodies right… and come out of it fired up for the rest of the season.”

Detroit won its sixth straight game and remained atop the NFC with a 7-1 record. Green Bay fell to 6-3 and dropped to third place in the NFL's best division.

Washington (7-2) leads the NFC East, Atlanta (6-3) is atop the NFC South and Arizona (5-4) leads the mediocre NFC West. These teams would be seeded 2-4 and have home playoff games if the postseason began today.

Philadelphia and Minnesota (6-2) are currently the top two wild card teams, while the Packers would be the No. 7 seed.

The NFC was the far superior conference this season, with 11 of 16 teams hitting .500 or better. The AFC only has seven teams at .500 or better.

The Packers have a bye this week, then they will have a hard time getting into the postseason once they return.

San Francisco and the Los Angeles Rams are both 4-4, on a healthy path and looking to make a strong push to clinch wild-card spots. Chicago (4-4) has lost two straight games but also has two straight games left with Green Bay, giving it a chance to make a move.

No matter how you look at it, Green Bay's loss to Detroit – on home soil, no less – was extremely costly.

“We knew where we would have ended up if we had won that game,” running back Josh Jacobs said. “We knew it was going to be a playoff game. We knew they were the ones we were chasing right now. It definitely hurts, but it’s a reality check.”

It's also a tough reality check, as Green Bay went 0-2 in the highly competitive NFC North with home losses to Minnesota and Detroit. Three of the Packers' four remaining division games are on the road, and only two of their final eight games are against teams with records below .500.

“There were a few disappointing losses, but we're still a really good football team and I think some things are more self-inflicted – the mistakes, the penalties and the turnovers,” Love said. “All stuff we can clean up. Like I said, we didn't play our best game. We still have a lot of football ahead of us in the bye week, so just get going when we get back.”