Three reasons why Lions vs. Ravens should be our Super Bowl opponent
There are just four teams competing for Super Bowl LIII, which means there are only four viable games left.
According to DraftKings Sportsbook, the San Francisco 49ers are the betting favorites to win the Super Bowl, as they have been for the majority of the 2023 NFL season. The Kansas City Chiefs are the defending champions.
But we will argue that the Baltimore Ravens vs. Detroit Lions game is the best one that could happen in this year’s Super Bowl.
It’s true that after the Chiefs have made it to the Super Bowl three times since 2019, winning two of those trips, seeing the reigning champion team in the game would get a little boring. While watching new faces on Super Bowl Sunday is fun, dynasties are also enjoyable.
The 49ers, who have won five franchise championships and have advanced to two Super Bowls since 2012 (the most recent in the 2019 season), find themselves in a similar situation.
But since winning the championship in 2012, Baltimore hasn’t advanced past the divisional round of the playoffs. Additionally, the Ravens have only won one postseason game between 2013 and 23, prior to their victory over Houston last weekend. It is not precisely a triumph of the elite.
In contrast, the Lions haven’t even advanced to a conference final since 1991. Furthermore, who wouldn’t want to watch “Dantallica” Campbell play in the Super Bowl?
Not to be forgotten is that the Lions ended a three-decade postseason win streak only two weeks ago. They can now advance to the Super Bowl for the first time as a team, only one victory away.
this after having only won one postseason game since 1958 and only seven postseason victories overall going into these playoffs.
In other words, the Lions have been perennially bad teams in the NFL for a number of years, but under Dan Campbell—who was a tight end for Detroit from 2006–08 and even played on the team that finished 0–16—that has all changed. With his assistance, the Lions have reached an unprecedented height and are now just two games away from taking home the championship.
However, for Campbell, who has led the team since 2021, things weren’t always perfect. It didn’t seem that long ago that Campbell’s firing by the Lions was a matter of when rather than if.
Following a 3-13 season in his rookie year, the 2022 Lions were off to a 1-6 start, and it appeared as though Campbell may be let go.
Nonetheless, the Lions persevered, and their reward was one of the greatest runs in the team’s history. The 2022 squad managed to eliminate divisional rival Green Bay from the postseason in the regular-season finale, but they lost by just one game after winning eight of their last ten games to finish 9-8 and miss the playoffs.
The Lions tied for the franchise record with 12 wins during the regular season this year—just the second time in franchise history. After defeating the Rams 24-23 in the Wild Card Round and former Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford, Detroit then snapped its winless streak in the playoffs dating back to 1991.
Nearly twenty years after beginning his playing career in Detroit, Campbell has one game left to lead the Lions to a height that many believed was unattainable for the team.
The fact that these Lions have been a lot of fun to watch this season definitely helps. They were fifth in scoring offense and third in overall offense at the end of the regular season.
The NFL MVP at the greatest event
Lamar Jackson is the favorite to earn his second NFL MVP award because he has been the league’s greatest player this season, even though the Lions could be the biggest story.
Jackson would rank among the most thrilling players to watch in NFL history, even if his career ended today. He now embodies the ideal dual-threat quarterback. He’s always been a crafty runner with the ability to make even the strongest defenders appear to be skating, but his enhanced passing has allowed him to step up his game.
Jackson had career-highs in passing yards (3,678), completion percentage (67.2), and yards per attempt (8.0 avg) at the end of the regular season. However, he only averaged “only” 51.3 rushing yards per game, which was the lowest amount of his career since he was a rookie in 2018.
Jackson deserves his chance to compete on the largest platform in the game.
