The Detroit Lions have been picked to win Super Bowl LIX (59) by a leading sports magazine ahead of the 2024 NFL season.
Here's why that could be a good thing and a bad thing.
What Happened: The Detroit Lions were one of the most talked about teams in the 2023 NFL season, thanks to a 12-5 record and their first playoff win since the 1991 NFL season.
The Lions lost to the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Conference Championship game last season, missing out on making their first Super Bowl by one game once again.
Sports Illustrated believes the Lions can get over their past history of never making a Super Bowl and not only make their first big game in Super Bowl LIX, but also come away with a victory.
The good news is the Lions are getting love for sports media and from sportsbooks, with the team listed at odds of +1,200 to win Super Bowl LIX at DraftKings Inc DKNG, which ranks fourth best.
The bad news is there’s an unwritten rule about cover jinxes associated with outlets like Sports Illustrated and the Madden video game. For those unfamiliar, sometimes teams or players picked to win awards or big games on covers end up significantly underachieving or getting hurt for the season.
That's why when Sports Illustrated put Lions players Jared Goff, Penei Sewell and Amon-Ra St. Brown on the cover and said this is their year to win the Super Bowl, there were some fans who were upset.
Sports Illustrated has only predicted one Super Bowl champion correctly in the last 24 seasons, correctly predicting the New England Patriots to win the Super Bowl for the 2004 NFL season, as reported by the Detroit Free Press. The media outlet correctly picked one of the two teams to be in the Super Bowl five other times, going 6-for-48 on teams reaching the big game over the last 24 seasons.
Two seasons ago, Sports Illustrated picked the Kansas City Chiefs to beat the Los Angeles Rams in the Super Bowl. The Rams defeated the Cincinnati Bengals in the Super Bowl that season. The outlet also correctly predicted the Pittsburgh Steelers and Green Bay Packers to reach the Super Bowl for the 2010 season, but incorrectly predicted the right team winning.
For those who believe in cover jinxes, it might be worth pointing out that the Lions exceeded expectations after their appearance on "Hard Knocks" for the 2022 season. The team went from 3-13-1 the prior season to a 9-8 record, narrowly missing the playoffs. This performance by the Lions was better than most teams who appear on the show, with some teams regressing from the prior season.
Read Also: Kansas City Chiefs Are Primed For Super Bowl Three-Peat, Sports Betting Data Suggests
What's Next: With odds of +1,200 to win Super Bowl LIX, a $100 bet would pay out a profit of $1,200 for a bettor if the Lions correctly fulfill the Sports Illustrated prediction.
As mentioned above, the Lions are one of only four NFL teams to never appear in a Super Bowl. Prior to the modern Super Bowl era, which began with Super Bowl I in 1967, the Lions won championships in 1935, 1952, 1953 and 1957.
The Lions are predicted to make the NFL Playoffs with odds of -245 at DraftKings. The team is also predicted to once again win the NFC North with odds of +130, ranking ahead of the Green Bay Packers (+230) and Chicago Bears (+280).
Since 1990, the Lions have only made the NFL Playoffs 10 seasons, with three wins coming in the 1991 and 2023 seasons.
The Lions open the season with a Sunday Night Football matchup on Sept. 8 against the Los Angeles Rams. The Lions are 3.5-point favorites in the game at DraftKings. The game is a rematch of a playoffs game last season and comes with the history of both team’s starting quarterbacks previously playing for the other team and being part of a trade for each other.
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