DETROIT -- Matthew Stafford hobbled onto the field, his right ankle beaten up, with the Detroit Lions having a chance to tie late in the fourth quarter. Stafford had been here so many times before in his career. But he hadn’t really been here with an injured leg before.

And while the Lions managed to come back to keep themselves in Thursday's game after falling behind by double digits in the first quarter for the third straight contest, a comeback was not going to happen. Not with an injured quarterback against one of the NFL’s best defenses.

Thursday's 30-23 loss to the Minnesota Vikings left the Lions in a tricky spot for the final five weeks of the season.

Barring a collapse by the NFC North-leading Vikings (9-2), the Lions (6-5) are essentially playing for a wild-card berth now.

And even reaching the playoffs as a wild-card team will be difficult for the Lions. Detroit has lost to Carolina, Atlanta and New Orleans this season -- and the Panthers (7-3) and Falcons (6-4) currently hold those two NFC wild-card spots.

The Lions players, though, still have confidence.

"We're still in good position. We've got three division wins," defensive tackle Akeem Spence said. "We got a few losses in our division but we still got a lot of football. A lot of football to play and a lot of things can happen in six weeks. We can't get down on ourselves. How many points did they win by? Seven. That's all right, man. We just got to regroup for Baltimore and get back on a run, start winning games and let the chips fall where they may, you know."

So even though their schedule lightens up considerably in December (Detroit faces no teams over .500 in the final month), the Lions either have to win out or get some major help to reach the postseason for the third time in four seasons.

And not surprisingly, it was the same old story for the Lions for much of the first three quarters. Fall behind by double digits. Barely hang in while inching their way back. And then cut it to one possession early in the fourth quarter, where Detroit has been at its best.

Minnesota, though, is not Chicago or Cleveland or, really, like any of the teams the Lions came back on throughout the past two seasons. The Vikings are a division leader. They are one of the best teams in the NFL -- and one of the most balanced.

But it leads to the question of why it keeps happening over and over again.

"Honestly, if we had the answer, I don't think we'd be doing it," receiver TJ Jones said. "From what I've seen it's just attention to detail on all parts. We just have to figure out what's making us start slow and address it. You know, we can't fix one problem and fix it for two weeks and revert back to the problem that we were fixing before, because now we have a new problem or something.

"It's really just, I don't know how to explain it."

This week it was a bit easier to explain the deficit and lack of a completed comeback. The Vikings' defense is one of the best in the NFL, a group that has given the Lions fits over the past few years, even in games Detroit has won. It has pummeled Stafford and shut down Detroit's offense over and over again.

The Vikings didn't quite do that Thursday -- Stafford had a pretty strong day pre-injury, including a 43-yard touchdown pass to Marvin Jones on the play he was injured -- but late in the game they were able to shut down Detroit on two straight drives.

That's always been the concern with how the Lions have played this season. Against bad teams, they could get away with falling behind early because they were the more talented team. That wasn’t how it was against the Vikings.

In a game that could end up deciding the NFC North and, potentially, a playoff spot depending how on December plays out, the Lions discovered why falling consistently behind was going to eventually catch up with them.

And as a result, their playoff probabilities have started to shrink. Even if the Lions don't quite believe it yet.

"Man, we above .500 and it's Thanksgiving, we got a chance at the end of the day," cornerback Nevin Lawson said. "I don't see we dug no hole, no nothing. At the end of the day it's a long season, anything can happen. You know, this team got a fighting spirit. We're going to fight until we can't fight no more."