Week 9 of the 2024/25 National Football League (NFL) regular season solidified a few of the things that have already been accepted as facts: The Washington Commanders, with rookie quarterback (QB) Jayden Daniels leading them 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 an overwhelming win over the Denver Broncos, the Kansas City Chiefs, with talisman QB Patrick Mahomes under centre, are finding ways to pull off incredible wins, and the Dallas Cowboys, with the league’s highest-paid player in QB Dak Prescott, are as bad as they appear to be.

That said, one of the surprise title chasers made a significant step last weekend, when the Detroit Lions avenged the loss they suffered to the Green Bay Packers in November 2023 at home. Detroit is now 5-1 in their last six games against National Football Conference (NFC) North division rivals Green Bay, but they have won three-consecutive road games against these opponents, a feat last achieved between 1986 and 1988.

The Packers dominated the Lions and won most matchups for nearly two decades, up to 2021, but the tides have turned significantly since then. The story of their impressive 24-14 victory last Sunday is not truly reflected in the final score, as the Packers opened the scoring with a first-quarter field goal but gave up 24 consecutive points in the second and third quarters to fall behind 24-3. Green Bay’s second field goal at the end of 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 from a 3-13 season in 2021, then 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 consecutive games for the first time since 1995 and are 7-1 for the first time since 1956, despite missing third-year receiver Jameson Williams for two games, and the defence missing eight key players, including Aidan Hutchinson.

The Lions visit NRG Stadium on prime time this Sunday to tackle the Houston Texans (6-3), who suffered a humiliating defeat to the New York Jets last week Thursday. Thankfully for the visitors, Williams is slated to return from his two-game suspension for violating the NFL’s policy on performance-enhancing substances. At the time of his suspension, Williams led the Lions with 361 receiving yards and was averaging 21.2 yards per catch, second most in the NFL.

In the same breath, the Texans have been without vertical threat Nico Collins for the past four games, due to a hamstring injury, and it is not certain if he will be cleared in time to play in Sunday’s matchup. 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 defence, the Lions acquired pass rusher Za’Darius Smith from the Cleveland Browns, before the trade deadline on November 5, to fill the gap left by Hutchinson. Smith has five sacks so far this season and, without Hutchinson for the last three games, Detroit had only one sack by a defensive lineman. Hutchinson had 7.5 sacks before he fractured his tibia and fibula last month, during a 47-9 hammering of the Cowboys in Dallas.

Offensively, the Lions have rushed for 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 running behind one of the league’s best offensive lines. Additionally, Gibbs is the first NFL player to average 5-plus yards per carry in a seven-game stretch with at least 10 rushing attempts per game. And, since suffering their only loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in Week 2, the only time they had a sub-20 points output this season, QB Jared Goff has completed 82.8 per cent of his passes and has a 140.1 passer rating, the best six-game stretch in NFL history by a quarterback with at least 100 attempts.

Defensively, the Lions rank seventh overall in the NFL, first in third-down defence, and ninth in red-zone efficiency, while allowing an average of 18.5 points per game. Safety Kerby Joseph has six interceptions, tied for the most in the NFL, and he is the league’s first safety with 14 or more interceptions in his first three seasons, since the start of Ed Reed’s Hall-of-Fame career from 2002 to 2004. Led by Joseph and safety Brian Branch, the team has 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 American Football League (AFL) and NFL merger in 1970. They have never played in the Super Bowl, but this is looking like their best chance ever. The Lions are currently the JustBet favourite to win the NFC and only the defending-champion, undefeated Chiefs, are offered better odds to win 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 are expected to get past those fairly easily, before rounding off the regular season against more formidable opponents.

The Texans will not lay down, especially at home, but the pride of the Lions will be on full display and JustBet has Detroit favoured to add to the win column. There are 12 other riveting contests on tap for this weekend, and all promise the usual edge of your seat excitement, but the Lions vs. Texans is expected to be extra-special. Are you ready for some football?

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Super Bowl LIX Champion – February 9, 2025