Week 9 of the 2024/25 National Football League (NFL) regular season solidified a few of the elements that have already been accepted as fact: the Washington Commanders, with rookie quarterback (QB) Jayden Daniels leading them off to their best start since 1966, are The real deal, the Baltimore Ravens, after absorbing a shocking Week 8 loss to the Cleveland Browns, proved their pedigree with a victory crushing against the Denver Broncos, the Kansas City Chiefs, with talisman QB Patrick Mahomes under center, finding ways to pull off incredible wins, and the Dallas Cowboys, with the league’s highest-paid player at QB Dak Prescott, are as bad as they look.

That said, one of the surprise title contenders took a big step last weekend, when the Detroit Lions avenged their November 2023 loss to the Green Bay Packers at home. Detroit is now 5-1 in its last six games against National Football Conference (NFC) North Division rival Green Bay, but they have won three straight road games against those opponents, one feat last performed between 1986 and 1988.

The Packers dominated the Lions and won most matchups for nearly two decades, until 2021, but the tide has changed significantly since then. The story of their impressive 24-14 victory last Sunday wasn’t really reflected in the final score, as the Packers opened the scoring with a field goal in the first quarter, but gave up 24 straight points in the second and third quarters to pull ahead. trailing 24- 3. Green Bay’s second field goal late in the third quarter and a touchdown with less than four minutes remaining made the score more respectable.

Under head coach Dan Campbell, the Lions have shown steady progress, starting with a 3-13 season in 2021, then going 9-8 in 2022, followed by a 12-5 record with a trip to the NFC championship game last season. The Lions have won six straight games for the first time since 1995 and are 7-1 for the first time since 1956, despite missing third-year wide receiver Jameson Williams for two games and the defense missing eight key players, including Aidan Hutchinson.

The Lions travel to NRG Stadium in prime time this Sunday to face the Houston Texans (6-3), who suffered a humiliating loss to the New York Jets on Thursday last week. Fortunately for the visitors, Williams is expected to return from his two-game suspension for violating the NFL’s policy regarding performance-enhancing substances. At the time of his suspension, Williams led the Lions with 361 receiving yards and averaged 21.2 yards per catch, the second-highest total in the NFL.

At the same time, the Texans have been without vertical threat Nico Collins for the past four games due to a hamstring injury, and it is unclear whether he will be cleared in time to play the Sunday game. Before being placed on injured reserve, Collins led the NFL with 567 receiving yards and still ranks in the top 15 overall, despite his lengthy absence.

In an effort to bolster their defense, the Lions acquired pass rusher Za’Darius Smith from the Cleveland Browns before the trade deadline on Nov. 5 to fill the void left by Hutchinson. Smith has five sacks so far this season and, without Hutchinson in the last three games, Detroit has had just one sack by a defensive lineman. Hutchinson had 7.5 sacks before fracturing his tibia and fibula last month in a 47-9 win over the Cowboys in Dallas.

Offensively, the Lions totaled at least 100 yards and a touchdown in the first eight games of a season for the first time since 1936, with David Montgomery and Jahmyr Gibbs behind one of the league’s best offensive lines. Additionally, Gibbs is the first NFL player to average more than 5 yards per carry over a seven-game streak with at least 10 rushing attempts per game. And, since suffering his only loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 2, the only time they’ve scored under 20 points this season, quarterback Jared Goff has completed 82.8 percent. of his passes and has a passer rating of 140.1, the best. six-game streak in NFL history by a quarterback with at least 100 attempts.

Defensively, the Lions rank seventh overall in the NFL, first in third-down defense and ninth in red zone efficiency, while allowing an average of 18.5 points per game. Safety Kerby Joseph has six interceptions, tied for first in the NFL, and is the first safety in the league with 14 or more interceptions in his first three seasons, dating back to Ed Reed’s career at Hall of Famer from 2002 to 2004. Led by Joseph and safety Brian Branch, the team had an interception in the first eight games of the season for the first time in more than four decades.

Detroit’s last championship came 13 years before the merger of the American Football League (AFL) and NFL in 1970. They never made it to the Super Bowl, but this appears to be their best chance ever . The Lions are currently JustBet’s favorites to win the NFC and only the defending champions, the undefeated Chiefs, are given better odds of winning the Super Bowl. They have three games after this weekend against teams at or below .500 (Jacksonville Jaguars (2-7), Indianapolis Colts (4-5), and Chicago Bears (5-5), respectively) and should overcome them fairly easily . , before finishing the regular season against more formidable opponents.

The Texans won’t let themselves give up, especially at home, but the Lions’ pride will be on full display and JustBet has Detroit favored to add to the win column. There are 12 other exciting contests on the schedule this weekend, and all promise the usual in-your-seat excitement, but Lions vs. Texans should be extra special. Are you ready for some football?

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Super Bowl Champion LIX – February 9, 2025