Lions host Vikings on Sunday night, winner earns No. 1 seed in NFC and loser falls to No. 5 seed

Minnesota (14-2) at Detroit (14-2)

Sunday, 8:20 p.m. EST, NBC

BetMGM NFL Odds: Lions by 3

Against the spread: Vikings 11-4-1; Lions 11-5

Series record: Vikings lead 80-44-2

Last meeting: Lions beat Vikings 31-29 on Oct. 20 in Minneapolis.

Last week: Vikings beat Packers 27-25; Lions beat 49ers 40-34.

Vikings offense: overall (12), rush (19), pass (5), scoring (9)

Vikings defense: overall (16), rush (2), pass (28), scoring (4)

Lions offense: overall (2), rush (6), pass (2), scoring (1)

Lions defense: overall (22), rush (3), pass (31), scoring (T-8)

Turnover differential: Vikings plus-10; Lions plus-11

TE T.J. Hockenson. Detroit's 2019 first-round draft pick was traded to the Vikings two years ago and missed the first matchup this season because he was completing his rehab from knee surgery. Hockenson tore his ACL and MCL in the Week 16 loss to the Lions last season when safety Kerby Joseph leveled him with a low hit. Hockenson has 39 catches for 446 yards in nine games this season.

QB Jared Goff. He has to play well to make up for a banged-up defense that gives up a lot of yards and points. Goff completed 77% of his passes last week and set a franchise record by throwing three TD passes for the fourth game in a row. Goff has connected on at least three-fourths of his passes in eight games, joining Tom Brady (2007) as the two players in league history to pull off the feat in a season.

Detroit's running game against Minnesota's defense. The Lions lean on their backfield to gain yards, score and set up play-action passes. Jahmyr Gibbs has averaged 20 carries for 113 yards and a TD in two games without the injured David Montgomery. The Vikings are giving up just 88.1 yards rushing per game.

The Vikings are remarkably healthy other than losing LT Christian Darrisaw for the season with a knee injury. Edge rusher Patrick Jones hurt his knee on a low block last week, but the injury wasn’t serious and he’ll have an opportunity to recover in time to play. ... Lions LB Alex Anzalone returned to practice this week, making his way back from a broken forearm that has kept him out since Nov. 17. ... Punt returner and WR Kalif Raymond may play for the first time since he had a foot injury on Nov. 24.

Detroit beat the previously unbeaten Vikings in Week 7 when Jake Bates kicked a 44-yard FG with 15 seconds left. Gibbs ran for 116 yards and two of the Lions three TDs in the second quarter. Goff was 22 for 25 for 280 yards with two TDs and no turnovers for a third straight game with a 140-plus passer rating, joining Aaron Rodgers (2011), Kurt Warner (1999) and Roger Staubach (1971) as the only quarterbacks in NFL history to do that. Aaron Jones rushed for 93 yards and a TD and Justin Jefferson had 81 yards receiving and a score for the Vikings. ... The Lions have won four straight against Minnesota, one win from matching their longest streak that started against the expansion Vikings in 1961 and ended in 1963.

The winner will earn the NFC North title, the top seed in the conference playoffs and a bye while the loser will drop to the fifth seed, starting the playoffs on the road next week as the first wild-card team with 14 wins. ... The game features the first matchup of teams with 13-plus wins and a combined 28 victories in the regular season. ... Minnesota has won nine straight since losing to Detroit and the Los Angeles Rams in consecutive weeks, its best stretch since a 10-game run in 1975. ... The Vikings are a victory away from tying the franchise record set by the 1998 team that was 15-1 that went on to lose in the NFC championship game. ... Minnesota has the best record against the spread, according to BetMGM Sportsbook, percentage points ahead of Detroit and two other teams. ... Sam Darnold was 33 for 43 for a career-high 377 yards with three TDs and one INT last week against Green Bay and is the NFL's first starting QB to win 14 wins in his first season with a franchise. .... WR Jalen Nailor set season highs with six catches for 69 yards against the Packers. ... LB Blake Cashman had a team-high 11 tackles, including 1 1/2 sacks, last week and is two tackles from setting a career high. ... OLB Andrew Van Ginkel, who had two sacks, three tackles for losses and forced a fumble against Detroit, has set career highs with 11 1/2 sacks and 17 tackles for losses. ... Rookie Will Reichard missed field goals last week from 57 and 43 yards. ... Detroit has won a franchise-record 14 games, including 12 of its past 13 games. ... Detroit has a chance to win two straight division titles for the first time. The franchise finished first in the Eastern Conference three years in a row from 1952-54. ... . The Lions and the 2000 St. Louis Rams are the two teams in league history to have at least 35 passing TDs and 25 rushing scores in a season. ... Montgomery, Gibbs, Amon-Ra St. Brown and Jameson Williams are the first pair of NFL RBs and WRs to have 1,000 yards from scrimmage each in a season. The quartet joins Edgerrin James, Marvin Harrison, Reggie Wayne, Brandon Stokley of the 2004 Colts to have four players with 1,000 yards from scrimmage and seven TDs in a season. ... The Lions have given up at least 31 points in three of their past four games. ... Joseph leads the league with nine interceptions. ... Former Vikings DE Za’Darius Smith has been held without a sack for three straight games after he had a total of 2 1/2 sacks in consecutive games against Green Bay and Chicago.

Jefferson has been dominant at Ford Field, making 34 catches for 597 yards and two TDs in his past three games in Detroit.

AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL

Minnesota Vikings tight end T.J. Hockenson (87) celebrates after catching a pass against Seattle Seahawks safeties Julian Love (20) Rayshawn Jenkins (2) during the second half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Dec. 22, 2024, in Seattle. (AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)

Detroit Lions quarterback Jared Goff (16) throws a pass during the first half of an NFL football game against the San Francisco 49ers, Monday, Dec. 30, 2024, in Santa Clara, Calif. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

MIAMI (AP) — For the 119th time since Jimmy Butler joined Miami, the Heat were playing a game without him.

This was different from the others.

Butler is gone, banished by the Heat for seven games over what they called conduct detrimental to the team — and he's probably not going to play for Miami again. His suspension started Saturday night when the Heat played the Utah Jazz, and the team says it will agree to his wishes and try to facilitate a trade.

“It’s disappointing when you see the organization and a player going head-to-head like that,” Heat captain Bam Adebayo said Saturday after the team's shootaround practice. “But the rest of us got to figure out how to win games.”

Butler has not commented publicly on the suspension. The National Basketball Players Association spoke out on Butler's behalf hours after the Heat announced the suspension on Friday, saying it believes the team's actions are “excessive and inappropriate.” The suspension could cost Butler about $2.4 million of his $48.8 million salary this season.

“It's none of our business,” Adebayo said. “It’s for Jimmy and for the management to handle.”

How it gets handled from here, and on what timeframe, is anyone's guess.

There was a new starting lineup with Butler gone: Miami opened the game with Terry Rozier, Tyler Herro, Haywood Highsmith, Nikola Jovic and Adebayo. Butler's locker is still the way he left it, shower shoes leaning against the drawer under the seat, a few items hanging on hooks and a few things taped to the wall. It will be cleaned out at some point, but he's still part of the team.

For now, anyway.

“We’re just going to focus on tonight," Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said before the game. "I want to quiet all the distractions. Enough has been said. We have clarity. We’re just going to focus on this group in the locker room. That’s what I want them to focus on and quiet the noise as much as possible. I’m not a clickbait type of coach, so you’re not going to get anything else really from me. We have a task to do.”

Utah will see Miami twice during Butler's suspension; the Heat play in Salt Lake City on Thursday. Jazz coach Will Hardy knows being without Butler won't change Spoelstra's approach.

“They have a consistency in their program from a competitive standpoint that you know that it doesn’t matter who plays," Hardy said. “You come here, you play Miami in your building, it’s going to be 48 minutes of highly competitive, physical basketball. Spo has shown that the entire time he’s been in Miami.”

Trading Butler will be a challenge in these NBA times, with the rules of the collective bargaining agreement limiting the ways teams can acquire players. It's possible, but it's far from certain. And the Heat simply letting Butler leave as a free agent this summer also remains a possibility — a move that would open up some other avenues for Miami to acquire new players before next season.

“It sucks to see that he won’t be around,” Rozier said.

Butler averaged 21.7 points, 6.2 rebounds and 5.7 assists in 380 games with the Heat, including playoffs. Entering Saturday, since Butler joined the Heat, they won 59.7% of their games when he played (227-153); they won 49.2% of their games when he didn’t (58-60).

He became eligible last summer for a two-year, $113 million extension. The deal was never offered by the Heat, in part because Butler has missed about one-quarter of the team's games during his Miami tenure.

It was only natural that such a big sum of money not being offered was going to lead to problems. And the tension boiled over this week. Butler didn't play in the fourth quarters of Miami games on Wednesday and Thursday; he spent some offensive possessions simply standing in the corner, almost as if he had no role.

“I feel like he came to work, he tried to perform, and it just didn’t go his way,” Adebayo said. “I feel like he didn’t want to be in the corner. But like I said, we developed a system where we play around everybody, and we just had to figure out how to incorporate him. But after what happened yesterday, we’re focused on who’s with us now.”

After the second of those games earlier in the week, Butler said “probably not” when asked if he thought he could find on-court joy again in Miami.

Saying those two words may have been his last official act as a member of the Heat. A week or so ago, Miami had no interest in trading Butler. Hearing him say that he doesn't want to be on the team anymore evidently changed things.

“It's hard to not see him around,” Jovic said.

AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA

Miami Heat forward Jimmy Butler (22) and center Bam Adebayo, left, are introduced before an NBA basketball game against the Indiana Pacers Thursday, Jan. 2, 2025, in Miami. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)