NFC North Odds: Now is the time to back the Lions
We are exactly halfway through the season as week nine has now ended. In most of the divisions its not worth having a bet as the favourite is so short. However, the NFC North is the complete opposite.
After the Packers lost at home to the Panthers and Vikings went away and beat the Lions everything has got much tighter. Currently the Packers are top with a 5-2-1 record. They are slightly ahead of the Lions and Bears who are 5-3 and then the Vikings are 4-4.
All four teams have shown that they can play great football this season. This is making it hard to call exactly who is going to win this division.
The Vikings have got a solid defence but have struggled to do much on the offensive side of the ball. This was largely due to injuries to the quarterbacks, but JJ McCarthy looked solid last week against a tough Lions defence.
The Bears have been quite poor defensively and historically a poor defence will cost you. The offence has looked solid, but it feels like it is getting better. The connection between Caleb Williams and his new head coach, Ben Johnson seems to be improving.
The Packers look to have the best defence in the division and have conceded the fewest points so far this season. The arrival of Micah Parsons has opened the other pass rushers to be able to attack and Rashan Garry is having a great season because of it.
The biggest worry for the Packers is their offence can go missing at times. We saw exactly that last Sunday when they only scored one touchdown and 13 points in total. Tucker Kraft is now out for the season, which is a huge loss and Jordan Love can be great or awful.
The Lions have scored the most points in the division by some way. They have also got a decent defence that are not far off the Packers currently. Overall, it feels like they have got the best all round team compared to the other three.
Jared Goff has been great again this season. His pass completion percentage is 73.8, which is only beaten by Drake Maye. Goff has thrown for 1,915 yards with 17 touchdowns and only three interceptions. If he keeps these numbers up, then the Lions will keep scoring a lot of points.
Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery have got the run game going for the Lions again. They have combined for 11 touchdowns already this season. Also, Amon-Ra St Brown is flying with seven touchdowns already this season. He is second in the wide receivers’ touchdowns list with only Davante Adams ahead of him.
The defence is currently ranked eighth in the league and overall, the whole team looks in a good place injury wise. They are the 27/20 second favourites at the top betting sites to win the division and now feels like the right time to back them.
With the Packers suffering injuries and the Bears and Vikings having issues with at least one side of the ball. Now is the time to take the most consistent and most likely to outscore any opposition.
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