Notes: Lions Are Sportsbooks' Worst Nightmare

Lions' dominant start has caught the attention of many sportsbooks.

Detroit Lions tight end Brock Wright (89) celebrates a touchdown with wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown (14). / Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Detroit Lions are inching ever closer to drawing the moniker of "America's Team."

At 9-1, led by a widely admired head coach and a superb cast of talented players, Detroit has become a favorite of fans, and not just the ones in their home city. Rather, the team that is now the consensus favorite to win the Super Bowl is viewed as one of the most popular teams in the entire NFL.

In fact, the Lions have become the biggest liability as they've risen from their preseason odds, which were around 12-to-1 by many popular sportsbooks.

“They’re by far our biggest Super Bowl liability and pretty much our only one at this point,” BetMGM trader Christian Cipollini said, via The Athletic. “Anything inside of 10-1 we don’t tend to build crazy liability that we’re worried about, but everybody has been on them. At this point, the Lions winning the Super Bowl would be a huge problem for us. If I could remove them from futures, I would.”

According to The Athletic, DraftKings Sportsbook had 31 percent of bets and 31 percent of total money wagered on Detroit to win the Super Bowl this week. Across these sportsbooks, the Lions are becoming an ever more popular pick to hoist the Lombardi Trophy at the end of the season.

The Lions have a 41-16 record against the spread since the middle of the 2021 campaign, an astounding mark.

“We hate the Lions,” Cipollini said. “I haven’t seen something like this in my time at BetMGM. Every single week, they’re our worst team. I think something like 95 percent of the bets last week were on Detroit.”

Here is a collection of other Lions news circulating this weekend:

1.) Former New York Jets head coach and current ESPN analyst Rex Ryan said that if defensive end Aidan Hutchinson didn't get hurt, he would've bet his life that the Lions "would've walked" to the Super Bowl during an appearance on Barstool Sports' "Pardon My Take."

Former Jets head coach Rex Ryan says if Aidan Hutchinson didn't get hurt, the Lions "would've walked" to the Super Bowl during recent appearance on Pardon My Take. pic.twitter.com/Sy3XKMbXWb

— Christian Booher (@CBooher_) November 23, 2024

2.) The Lions gifted wide receiver Jameson Williams a framed picture of his dunk celebration against Seattle, which also featured an autographed photo of team great and Hall of Fame wideout Calvin Johnson doing a similar celebration.

3.) The Detroit Free Press interviewed rookie defensive back Loren Strickland, who discussed his journey to the NFL. Strickland's path to the league began at D-II Indianapolis and later Ball State, before making the Lions as an undrafted free agent.