The Detroit Lions are 11-1, on a 10-game winning streak and seen as the No. 1 favorite to win the Super Bowl right now. We know how Jared Goff, and surely the entire team, feels about being the Super Bowl favorite right now.
Over their final five games of the regular season, the Lions play three teams who enter the month with at least nine wins. Thursday night's game against the 9-3 Green Bay Packers will he huge, and another division rival, the 10-2 Minnesota Vikings, loom in the regular season finale. In Week 15, they'll host the 10-2 AFC East champion Buffalo Bills.
Road trips to Chicago and San Francisco are also in this late-season stretch for the Lions, and neither of those will necessarily be easy even if the Bears and 49ers are in tough situations.
The Lions could run the table, or they could lose a couple of their final five regular season games. Only having a one-game lead in the NFC North right now means there's no room for any let-up or letdowns. The 10-2 Philadelphia Eagles also lurk as a threat to take the No. 1 playoff seed in the NFC.
Dan Campbell knows it's playoff time right now for the Lions
If we know anything, it's the Lions are not going to lose focus or any sort of edge over the final stretch of the regular season. Head coach Dan Campbell and his staff simply won't allow it, and the players won't be letting their guards down in any aspect.
During his press conference on Tuesday, prompted by a question about the team's resiliency, Campbell landed on the mindset everyone should have (and surely has).
"We’re in playoff football right now,” Campbell said. “That’s where we’re at. We’re in December, and our schedule says that. We play tough opponent after tough opponent, we’ve got another one, we’ve got plenty of them coming up. This is the type of stuff that you live for. And it’s also the stuff that gets you ready for the tournament.”
December won't determine what the Lions do in the playoffs, but it's been proven that teams who are playing well at this point in the season can carry that momentum to a deep playoff run. Continuing to stack wins this month will ensure the path through the NFC postseason goes through Detroit, and that stretch of playoff football truly starts now.