Pride of Detroit
The Detroit Lions and Kansas City Chiefs close out Sunday’s slate of NFL game with a game that should be among the day’s best. Regardless of where each team’s currently stand in Week 6, both the Lions and Chiefs are considered teams who will be competing for a championship come January. All you have to do is look at the teams’ current DVOA rankings. The efficiency metric currently has the Lions as the best team in football. And even though the Chiefs are only 2-3 to start the year, they rank sixth in DVOA.
The Lions have parlayed that efficiency into a 4-1 record through five games. After a disappointing start to the year, the Lions have pretty easily handled the rest of their schedule. They beat the Bears, Bengals, and Browns by multiple scores, and closed out the game strong against the Ravens to walk away with the gritty road win.
The Chiefs started the season out poorly. They lost their opener to the Los Angeles Chargers then followed it up with a loss to the returning champion Philadelphia Eagles. Since then, they’ve shown improvement little-by-little. And ugly win over the Giants led to a much more complete victory over the beat-up Ravens. However, last week’s loss to the Jaguars showed there is still plenty of room for Chiefs to grow.
The Lions come into the matchup hobbled in two key areas. Left tackle Taylor Decker is out, as is one of his backups Giovanni Manu. Dan Skipper is expected to start in his place, and while he has plenty of starting experience, he’s a significant step down from Decker. Injuries are an even bigger concern in the secondary, where the Lions will be missing D.J. Reed, Terrion Arnold, Avonte Maddox, and while both starting safeties are active, they are not likely to be 100%.
The Chiefs are entering the game healthy, although left tackle Josh Simmons is out for a personal reason.
So who will come out victorious on this marquee Sunday night matchup? Come stick with us right here and chat with our Pride of Detroit community in the comment section below!
