Dan Campbell knew when he took the Detroit Lions head coaching job in 2021 that at some point his team was going to get knocked down. He acknowledged as much during his introductory press conference when he said the Lions would get up and “bite a kneecap off” in the process.
“And we’re going to stand up, and then it’s going to take two more shots to knock us down. And on the way up, we’re going to take your other kneecap. And then it’s going to take three shots to get us down,” Campbell continued.
He couldn’t have known it at the time, but what he described was a perfect metaphor for the Lions’ 2024 season. The team has been decimated by injuries, and yet they keep getting up and they keep winning. That continued on Sunday night with a dominant defensive performance against the Minnesota Vikings to clinch the No. 1 seed in the NFC.
The Lions won 31-9, and it was apparently enough for oddsmakers to submit. Detroit will enter the NFL playoffs as +280 favorites at BetMGM to win the Super Bowl, because if injuries can’t derail this team, what can?
The Lions are followed by the Chiefs at +350, the Ravens and Bills at +600 each and the Eagles at +700. And in case you haven’t noticed by now, that’s a big gap between Detroit and the next best team in the NFC. A lot larger than the one between the Chiefs and the next closest teams in the AFC. If the Lions don’t win the Super Bowl, they’re expected to at least make it to the big game.
No other team has Super Bowl odds shorter than 10-1, including Minnesota, which finished tied for the league’s second-best record. The Vikings sit at +1600 odds, followed by the Packers at +1800 before things get steeper for the field with every other team at 30-1 or longer.
