Getty Jared Goff points out a play for the Lions in Minnesota.
The Detroit Lions were in great position to score a Week 3 win, but wilted down the stretch to suffer a loss. Heading into Week 4, however, that might not matter a bit.
Already, the Lions are seen as early favorites to score their second win of the season and get back to .500 against the Seattle Seahawks. Early in the week, the Lions opened as a whopping 6.5 point favorite over Seattle, something Chris Burke of The Athletic pointed out.
“Lions open as 6 1/2-point favorites over the Seahawks, per BetOnline.ag,” Burke tweeted.
Since Monday, that number has come down a bit. Detroit still sits as a 4.5 point favorite for the game, which considering the team’s history of being underdogs, is very significant at this point in time. FanDuel showed the trend downward for the line:
Obviously, many folks are off the Seattle bandwagon after their 1-2 start to the season, which has included a couple close games and a blowout road loss.
Seattle’s performance on the road in a 27-7 loss to the San Francisco 49ers could leave plenty of folks worried about their ability to stay in the game. The Lions have a higher-powered offense than San Francisco, so some folks may see this as a harbinger of bad news for the Seahawks.
Detroit, meanwhile, continues to deal with a rash of injuries to start the season. Even though the Lions could be down plenty of players, they are still holding on to favorite status for this game.
Lions vs. Seahawks Series History
In spite of the fact that the Lions are favorites for this game, their recent history against the Seahawks might point to how the team could be underdogs for this matchup.
Seattle holds an 11-5 advantage all-time against Detroit, and is currently on a four-game winning streak head-to-head in the matchup. The last three games haven’t been all that close, either.
Last season, Seattle walloped Detroit 51-29 late in the year. In 2018, they cruised to a 28-14 win in their last game at Ford Field. In a 2017 playoff game, they hammered Detroit 26-6.
The Seahawks, of course, have seen some major changes so far this season. Russell Wilson no longer plays at quarterback, and the team’s fearsome defense has looked a lot more human in recent years. With that in mind, the Lions could be in better shape than in the past.
Lions Defense Will Set the Tone vs. Seattle
While Detroit’s offense has found making big plays easy so far this year, it will be the defense that probably determines if the team can back up such a substantial line for Week 4.
Detroit all but had Week 3’s game in their back pocket and lost, and a big reason was the defense. The Lions maintained a 10 point lead in the fourth quarter, but were doomed by coverage busts and mistakes on the back end. The Lions also got next to no pressure on Kirk Cousins.
This week, the Detroit defense is going to have to find a way to slow down Seattle and give their offense a better chance to impact the game. They must get some pressure up front on Geno Smith and find a way to generate more interceptions or fumbles in order to offer sudden-change possibilities.
Many think the Lions should be favorites to start the new week, and it appears they will remain such. That’s the good news as the team gets set to bounce back off a major early-season disappointment.