Packers, Lions atop NFC North standings

The Green Bay Packers and the Detroit Lions will continue their battle for top spot in the NFC North standings on two fronts on Sunday afternoon as Green Bay plays host to Denver (4:15pm ET, CBS) and Detroit visits Dallas (1:00pm ET, FOX).

The Packers at 3-0 isn't that big of a surprise, as the defending Super Bowl champions entered the season as one of the favorites to win the big game again.

And Green Bay hasn't disappointed so far, knocking off New Orleans 42-34 at home in their first game of the season, then beating the Panthers 30-23 in Carolina in Week 2 and getting past the rival Bears 27-17 in Chicago over the weekend.

Aaron Rodgers had no trouble with Bears' defense in Week 3, completing 28 of his 38 pass attempts for 297 yards with three touchdowns and one interception. Jermichael Finley had all three of those TD catches for the Packers and picked up 85 yards through the air, while Greg Jennings had nine catches for 119 yards. Ryan Grant led the team's attack on the ground with 92 yards over his 17 carries.

The Broncos, sitting as 13-point underdogs for their matchup with Green Bay on the Oddsmaker NFL betting board, have sandwiched a Week 2 win over the Bengals between losses to the Raiders in Week 1 and the Titans in Week 3.

In that 17-14 defeat on the road against Tennessee over the weekend Kyle Orton was good on 24 of his 39 pass attempts for just 173 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions, while Matt Willis and Wills McGahee had the TD catches. McGahee, though, was held to just 52 yards on 22 carries on the ground.

Down in Dallas this weekend the Lions will be looking to keep their offense rolling and improve to 4-0 on the season by bouncing the Cowboys in their own stadium.

Detroit got past Tampa Bay 27-20 on the road in the first week of the season, then thumped Kansas City 48-0 at home before returning to the road for a 26-23 victory against the Vikings in Minnesota over the weekend. The Lions trailed Minnesota 20-0 at halftime in that last matchup before roaring back for the win in overtime.

Lions QB Matthew Stafford completed 32 of 46 pass attempts for 378 yards for Detroit on Sunday, with two touchdown strikes and no interceptions. Calvin Johnson had seven catches for 108 yards and two scores and Brandon Pettigrew had 11 catches for 112 yards on a day in which the team ran for a net total of 20 yards on the ground. Jason Hanson booted the game-winning field goal in OT.

Elsewhere around the NFL on Sunday afternoon it'll be Carolina at Chicago (-6.5), Minnesota (-1) at Kansas City, Buffalo (-3) at Cincinnati, Tennessee at Cleveland (pick'em), Washington at St. Louis, San Francisco at Philadelphia, Pittsburgh at Houston, New Orleans (-7.5) at Jacksonville, Atlanta (-4) at Seattle, the Giants (-2.5) at Arizona, New England (-4.5) at Oakland, and Miami at San Diego (-8). On Sunday night it's the Jets at Baltimore (-3.5), while the Week 4 Monday night contest has Indianapolis at Tampa Bay.