Cowboys QB Dak Prescott did 1 unusual thing before the Lions game

The Dallas Cowboys and Detroit Lions have a high-profile game on “Thursday Night Football” in Week 14, and even though they say not to focus on the competition, Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott admitted that he had to do that just a bit.

Everyone is talking about the Chicago Bears’ rise to the top of the NFC and NFC North, amid the Detroit Lions struggles. The Bears are No. 1 in both tallies, while the Lions are No. 3 in the NFC North, behind both the Bears and Green Bay Packers.

Detroit heads into Thursday’s game against Dallas with a 7-5 record, while the Cowboys are 6-5-1, so it’s shaping up to be an even matchup. Both teams are playing to keep their playoff hopes alive, which also makes this a high-stakes game for both franchises.

Before the game, Prescott fessed up to having to look at the NFC standings to see where both teams stand — something that isn’t the norm for him.

“QB Dak Prescott admitted that he checked the NFC standings out of curiosity this week,” Ed Werder of ESPN reported. “It’s about us controlling what we control, winning the games in front of us…I think if we just win and handle our business, we’ll put ourselves in a great spot.”

When it comes to predictions, Tom Viera, Joe Rivera and Nick Brinkerhoff of USA Today make a strong point that the Cowboys are heating up right now in the season, while the Lions are cooling down.

“Detroit has the eighth-best record in the NFC, leaving them as the first team out of the playoffs if the season ended today,” they note. “They lost on Thanksgiving to the Green Bay Packers and are trying to catch the Packers (8-3-1) and the Chicago Bears (9-3) in the NFC North standings.”

They add that the Cowboys, by contrast, are “one of the hottest teams in the NFL entering Week 14.

Dallas is riding a three-game winning streak that includes victories over both Super Bowl 59 teams, the Philadelphia Eagles and the Kansas City Chiefs. The team sits one spot behind Detroit in the ninth spot in the NFC standings, making this matchup a must-watch between two desperate teams whose playoff lives are hanging in the balance.”