Marcus Spears Still Thinks the Eagles Are the Team to Beat in the NFC

Lions' dominate win over Vikings not enough to make them leaders in the clubhouse.
Marcus Spears still thinks the Eagles could give Detroit problems.
Marcus Spears still thinks the Eagles could give Detroit problems. / Get Up on X

The Detroit Lions thumped the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday night in a game with everything on the line. Their depleted defense, which has understandably been a major concern, dominated Sam Darnold's offense with ferocious aggression. Jahmyr Gibbs scored four touchdowns himself despite the Jared Goff-led offense looking extremely human for the first 30 minutes. It was the type of performance that could cause everyone to agree that the Lions are, if nothing else, the team to beat in the NFC considering their talent, record and a path to the Super Bowl that runs through Ford Field.

But it's not. ESPN's Marcus Spears swerved this morning when asked on Get Up, saying that for him the team to beat is the Philadelphia Eagles.

"Still Philly, man," Spears said. "And I get it. I understand what we just watched in Detroit last night ... We just looked at red zone opportunities at 21 to 28 points for the Minnesota Vikings that they couldn't execute. I'm not sure if Jalen Hurts and Saquon Barkley and AJ Brown are not going to execute those. So I'm not ready to say that Detroit is clearly the favorite yet but what I will say is this: if they get into these situations where they play you late into a game, they will absolutely take over the game."

At the end of the day this is just a segment on television so it doesn't have much real world impact. Detroit can take it personally during their well-earned bye and watch the Eagles have to negotiate a Green Bay team that will be dangerous if Jordan Love can take the field healthy and effective.

And the almost unprecedented injuries on defense should give a person pause. Yes, putting the screws to a high-flying Minnesota attack was eye-opening. This is the same unit that allowed Brock Purdy to march up and down the field and couldn't stop Josh Allen at all. It's an open question as to whether defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn's blitz-heavy gameplan can avoid getting torched two more times.

Still, it's a bit surprising someone was able to watch that Sunday night domination and not at least fall prisoner of the moment (plus perhaps objective reality) and see the Lions in Detroit as the toughest assignment for any other NFC side.


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Kyle Koster
KYLE KOSTER

Kyle Koster is an assistant managing editor at Sports Illustrated covering the intersection of sports and media. He was formerly the editor in chief of The Big Lead, where he worked from 2011 to '24. Koster also did turns at the Chicago Sun-Times, where he created the Sports Pros(e) blog, and at Woven Digital.