Just yesterday on January 25th, 2024, the Detroit Lions are having a great season and one of their best in a really long time. They finished the season with a 12-5 record and clinched the playoffs as early as week 16 in the NFL season. Each of their games were exciting to watch and are such a fun team to follow throughout the season.
In week 1, the Detroit Lions defeated the Kansas City Chiefs in a thriller that came down to the last seconds. The final was 21-20, putting them at 1-0 to start.
In week 2, they lost to the Seattle Seahawks in overtime 37-31, making them an even 1-1. They would come back the next week and start a 4 game winning streak, beating the Falcons 20-6, the Packers 34-20, the Panthers 42-24 and the Buccaneers 20-6.
This streak would improve their record to 5-1. Quarterback Jared Goff was looking great and Dan Campbell looked promising as a head coach with good players on his team.
Week 7 would then come around against the future 1-seed Baltimore Ravens, where they would lose in blowout fashion 38-6. People questioned if the Lions were a legitimately good team or if they were just getting easy wins facing opponents that aren't too difficult to beat, even though they still had a very good 5-2 record.
Coming back from these comments, thoughts and disappointment, the Lions went on a 3 game win streak, beating the Raiders 26-14, the Chargers in a game that came down to the literal last seconds with a score of 41-38 and the Bears 31-26, improving their record to 8-2.
Jared Goff was a legit MVP candidate at this time and the Lions were looking very promising. The Lions traditional Thanksgiving game would then come around, where their offense would be disappointing, losing to the Packers 29-22. Coming back in week 13 to beat the New Orleans Saints 33-28.
The next week would be a different story though, as the Chicago Bears would come out on top with an upset win 28-13, making the Lions record 9-4, with four weeks left to play. They would then beat the Broncos 42-17 in week 15 and beat the Vikings 30-24 in week 16, improving their record to 11-4. The Lions would then lose in a very controversial and dramatic ending versus the Dallas Cowboys, losing 20-19.
They would go on to beat the Vikings again in week 18 30-20, improving their final record to 12-5.
The Detroit Lions would advance to the playoffs where they would play the Los Angeles Rams in the Wild Card round, where they would barely pull off the win, 24-23, they would move on to the Divisional Round, where they would play the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who they previously beat 20-6. In the Divisional round, it would be a close game until the end, when the Lions would intercept Baker Mayfield’s pass, securing the win 31-23.
The Lions are now preparing for the NFC Championship game against the San Francisco 49ers, where they have about a 26% chance to win per ESPN Matchup Predictor, but personally I think they have a better chance to win. We will just have to wait and see how the NFC Championship plays out.
Image courtesy of Joe Glorioso: Flickr