The Week 17 win over the San Francisco 49ers hit a few Detroit Lions players hard in the pocketbook. Three Lions earned fines from the NFL for actions in Monday night’s game. All three are in Detroit’s secondary. Safety Brian Branch got fined by the league a total of $10,128 for unnecessary roughness (use of helmet).

The Athletic NFL writers Mike Jones, Ted Nguyen and Dan Pompei share their thoughts on all of these storylines and more. After a victory over an 11-win Packers team on Sunday, is it time to reconsider and place the Vikings in the Eagles/Lions class of Super Bowl contender in the NFC?