It’s very unusual for a team with a 5-7 record to be favored to beat a 10-2 foe. But that’s where the Detroit Lions find themselves in Sunday’s matchup in Ford Field against the Minnesota Vikings.
Dan Campbell’s Lions are favored by 1.5 points in Week 14, having won four of their last five games. Of course, the Vikings have been victorious in nine of their last 10 outings, a run that started with a Week 3 win over the Lions.
Campbell was asked about his thoughts on the strange situation of being favored over a team with such a superior record.
After a discourse on the illegality of NFL personnel betting on games, Campbell talked up the Vikings and the respect he has for their ability to keep winning.
“I go back to the fact, and I keep hitting this, our players have done a good job of, man, you always respect your opponent,” Campbell told reporters on Friday. “This team has won 10 games now, and it doesn’t matter how you did it. You won them, and you earned that. There is no, ‘Well, it was a fluke.’ That doesn’t exist in this League, and they are finding ways to win. They always have, and they’re where they’re at for a reason, and you cannot overlook that. So, they’ve been down, they’ve been up, and they always find a way. So, those teams, man, if you don’t have the respect for those teams, you’ll get buried by them.”
The second-year head coach doesn’t want to hear anything about the respect the Lions are getting from bettors, either,
“No, it’s the same people that – we were trash when we were 1-6, so it’s irrelevant. And if we don’t win this game, then it’s back to, ‘Oh, we’re not what we were. It’s a fluke, and blah blah blah.’ So, it’s all about the next game, right in front of us. That’s all we can worry about, and it’s about playing good football and knowing that it’s going to come down to the wire.”