It wasn’t long ago that embarrassed Detroit Lions fans protected their identity by wearing paper bags over their heads while watching games at Ford Field.
Their team was the butt of all jokes after a long line of abysmal seasons which included the wretched 2008 campaign when they failed to register a single win, going 0-16. Performances barely improved the following year when the toothless Lions celebrated just two victories and they won just three, five and three times again as 2019, 2020 and 2021 flops.
The Lions haven’t played for the Vince Lombardi Trophy since the Super Bowl era started in 1967 but can end nearly as many years of hurt as England’s football team by going all the way in the new NFL season, which starts on Thursday.
Detroit finished last season with a 12-5 record to win the NFC North, then overpowered the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 31-23 in the play-offs before blowing a 17-point lead and falling 34-31 to the San Francisco 49ers in their NFC Championship duel.
That crushing defeat may once again have caused untold belly laughs at their expense but the front office shored up the defence during the offseason and head coach Dan Campbell, quarterback Jarrod Goff and the rest of the Motown minstrels will be the ones with smiles on their faces when they are partying in Bourbon Street after a seismic victory at Super Bowl 59 in New Orleans.
Playing 13 of 17 regular season games in domes and another in California’s warm climate is a huge bonus and we’ll laugh all the way to the bank by backing them at 12/1 with William Hill, bet365 and Betway among others.
It has to be an each-way wager, however, as Kansas City are on a mission to become the first franchise to win three Super Bowls in a row and they are 7/2 with multiple firms to create history.
The Green Bay Packers, meanwhile, will be worth watching as second-year starter Jordan Love continues to follow in the tradition of iconic Cheesehead quarterbacks Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers.
Their young squad won six of their last eight regular-season games and were unfortunate to lose to the 49ers in the play-offs but they may need another year before they mature and we can gleefully predict that Love will tear us apart. The Pack are still, however, worth a decent wager at 7/1 with BetMGM to win over 9.5 regular season games.
• How the mighty have fallen… the Tom Brady era and six Super Bowl triumphs in 17 years is a distant memory and the New England Patriots are 7/2 with Betfred to have the worst regular season record in this year’s NFL.
Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker TJ Watt recorded 19 quarterback sacks last season and 22.5 in 2021, and is 9/2 with StarSports to put up the best number this year.
• Barnsley, Doncaster, Newport County and Notts County form Saturday’s Football League acca.
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