'It doesn't matter who they're playing': How betting on Lions has changed in 2024 - ESPN

It was Sunday afternoon, Nov. 17. The Buffalo Bills were handling the Kansas City Chiefs, and bookmakers around the nation were poised to do something they'd never done before — make the Detroit Lions the favorites to win the Super Bowl.

For weeks, the Lions had been closing the gap with the two-time defending champion Chiefs. They inched even closer with their blowout win over the Jacksonville Jaguars in the early slate, just prior to the Bills-Chiefs game. Then, at roughly 5:30 p.m., the trading team for ESPN BET hit the button and moved the Lions ahead of the two-time defending champion Chiefs in the odds to win the Super Bowl.

For the first time, the Lions were the Super Bowl favorites.

ESPN Research scoured through each of the Lions' successful seasons during the Super Bowl era, cross-checking odds and looking for any instance when Detroit had been good enough to be considered the betting favorite. It didn't take long.

While the research team acknowledges that the archived Super Bowl odds for the 1970 season were incomplete, the belief is the Lions had never been the favorites. But, they are now, and the betting public is completely behind them.

«Week to week, it doesn't matter who they're playing, the Lions are one of the most, if not the most, bet-on team,» said Christian Cipollini, BetMGM trading manager. «They're the public darling.»

The Lions own the third-worst winning percentage in the Super Bowl era, behind only the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Jaguars. The resilient fan base endured decades of mediocrity and futility, season after season of being the lovable long shots, rarely legitimate contenders. Sixteen years ago, they went 0-16 — a team that few bettors outside of Michigan would touch.

This season,