A Division Winner That You Might Expect

One week removed from my infamous rant about Jared Goff that has the Detroit soy boys coming after me about their precious pampered quarterback…I am now going to put my money on the Detroit Lions to win their division.

As much as I’d like to think Dan Campbell is a good coach, I’m seriously starting to second guess that he is anything but a cheerleader. Josh Allen had this man crying after Week 2.

What happened to biting knee caps? Instead it’s excuse after excuse for this Lions team. “We’re missing our safeties” and “we’re missing offensive lineman” then “oh it’s a new offensive coordinator”...I mean seriously, stop crying. 

I get these are real challenges and it’s real adversity, but you were supposed to be the tough guys. Now you’re losing to Max Brosmer, blowing 20 point leads in your home opener, and getting run out of primetime games in the 1st quarter by Josh Allen.

You may already be aware, but I am front and center on the Packers hate train. I’ve got their win total under 9.5 and ALT’d down to 7.5. I think Lafleur could and should be fired.

The Bears are my Super Bowl pick and I have a Caleb MVP ticket, but this hamstring injury could linger. I get that it looked significantly worse from his reaction on the field, and now reports are saying he could be back within a week, but I’m not buying that. I think they’ll slowplay Caleb back into the season and he could miss time. I’m concerned with their defense but not as concerned if their offense was scoring at will. This could really throw off the Bears after that 59 point season opener. 

And as much as I like Brian Flores, I’m really not scared of the Vikings. Sure they had two nice wins against their divisional opponents, but even if Kyler is healthy, I don’t know think he’s the guy. Their secondary got cooked by Jordan Love, and they have zero run game. This is an offense propped up by Justin Jefferson and I don’t foresee the defense being able to carry this team for another 15 games.

The Detroit Lions schedule is about as favorable as it gets. They host the Jets this week with extended rest. Then they make two trips to Carolina and Arizona, teams that I expect them to beat. After that, they get an early BYE. Now I usually don’t like early BYE’s for teams that are looking to make a playoff run, but this is exactly what the Lions need given the early injuries to their secondary and O-line. It also helps new coordinator Drew Petzing make some tweaks after having five games under their belt.

Jared Goff is a dome quarterback. The Lions play ONE game outside between Week 7 and Week 17. That one game outside is against the Miami Dolphins.

I still have concerns with the Lions. I’m still frustrated (at times) watching Jared Goff play quarterback. I still think Dan Campbell might not actually be a very good head coach. But there are just too many things working in their favor that I can’t ignore.

Give me the Lions to win the NFC North (+170)