Arrowhead Pride
On Sunday night, the Kansas City Chiefs face the Detroit Lions. We welcome Ryan Mathews of Pride of Detroit — our sister SB Nation site covering the Lions— for Five Questions with the Enemy*.*
It’s hard to say through just five weeks of play – especially since the Bears and Packers both had byes last week – but it does seem like the division is Detroit’s for the taking. As for their Super Bowl aspirations, that’s obviously the goal, but nothing about the Lions’ approach to this offseason seemed to suggest it’s “Super Bowl or bust.” Detroit didn’t make a splashy trade for an edge rusher and didn’t get aggressive in the draft. The biggest move they made was signing D.J. Reed in free agency — but that was to replace Carlton Davis. Detroit is clearly trying to get as many bites at the apple as possible while they still have guys like Jahmyr Gibbs, Sam LaPorta, Jack Campbell and Brian Branch on rookie deals. Maybe that changes depending on the outcome of this season, but they certainly don’t seem to be in any rush to overextend themselves (and their long-term outlook) for fear of not making it to February.
Prior to the start of the season, the Lions were slated to have one of the toughest schedules in NFL history, with 11 games against opponents who made the playoffs a season ago. But now that they’ve taken care of business, it’s the schedule that’s led them to the top spot in the power rankings. The goal posts get moved for this team more than any other in the league, and it feels like the disrespect is rooted in nearly every member of the football media digging their heels in on the “coordinator brain drain” take from this offseason: that it was going to sap this team of their ability to play football, just as it did in Philadelphia in 2023… until it didn’t affect them in 2024.
Lo and behold, Detroit’s success has a lot more to do with their head coach being one of the best in the league and their roster being extremely talented. Detroit’s point differential is second-best in the league, trailing only the Indianapolis Colts. (If you want to talk about a schedule merchant, there you go). But the Lions aren’t unlike other teams — they have warts just like everybody else — but again, the difference in Detroit is twofold: coaching and talent. We’ve seen the Lions shake off the rust from an uneven performance in Week 1 against the Green Bay Packers and rip off four straight...
