Two teams that have legitimate Super Bowl hopes open the National Football League season on Thursday night in the annual Hall of Fame Game. The combatants in Canton, Ohio this week are a pair of teams that cracked the playoff field last season … and two teams that were knocked off in their first postseason game.
In his first season as head coach of the Chargers, Jim Harbaugh led one of three teams from the AFC West to advance past the regular season. In addition to the Chargers, the Kansas City Chiefs and Denver Broncos also emerged from the talented AFC West to participate in the 2024 playoffs. Only the Chiefs got a postseason win last season, and their dream of a third straight Super Bowl triumph was crushed by the Philadelphia Eagles, 40-22.
The day after the Chargers lost as a road favorite in Houston to the Texans, the Broncos were dominated on the road in their Wild Card game by the talented Buffalo Bills, 31-7. The Chargers loss was the second in two postseason tries for quarterback Justin Herbert. The sixth year Los Angeles signal caller gets high praise for his arm strength and leadership … but is still to crack a victory in the postseason.
The Chargers opponent this week, the Detroit Lions, entered last year’s playoffs as a favorite to win it all. They earned the top seed in the National Football Conference with 15 regular season wins and entered the postseason as double-digit favorites over the visiting Washington Commanders.
The ride to the top seed in their conference was a steady climb by the previously much maligned franchise under the direction of Head Coach Dan Campbell. He had taken a franchise that had been so bad in recent years that there was talk in the league to strip the organization of one of the league’s most valued traditions, a Thanksgiving game in Detroit.
Campbell arrived in Detroit in 2021 and guided the Lions to a familiar last place finish with a 3-13-1 season record. But, during that offseason, Campbell and the Lions made a bold move by trading their franchise quarterback, Matthew Stafford, to the Los Angeles Rams for a bevy of draft picks and the Rams starting quarterback, Jared Goff.
The Rams got what they wanted in the trade, a Super Bowl win in Stafford’s first season in Los Angeles, and the Lions got what they wanted … a future brightened by the stable of high draft picks that greatly enhanced the Lions roster. Perhaps a bonus was that Goff developed into a premier quarterback that led the Lions to the NFC Championship Game two seasons ago and the best record in football last season.
It all lined up so well for the Lions last year. They had cracked the long drought of playoff wins with a postseason victory in the 2023 season, and had the talent gained through adept drafting rounding into the primer years of their playing careers.
Then the Lions picked up two strikes entering the 2024 postseason. First, their success was too good, a pattern that has overrated teams routinely stumble in the playoffs. Second, the Lions defense was decimated by injuries heading into the postseason.
What that left the Lions to be as they opened their 2024 playoff run was being the prey instead of the hunter, and it was an opening the young Commanders took advantage of in their road postseason win.
So now what can we expect from the Lions and Chargers this season?
Both teams are well coached and likely to advance to the playoffs again this season. A postseason where the Chargers will be looking to get their first victory with Herbert at quarterback and the Lions hoping to get their first ever Super Bowl appearance.
As for now, two teams with bigger aspirations and nothing to prove in July, will go through the motions on Thursday night while NBC will spend as much time talking about this year’s Hall of Fame additions, Eric Allen, Jared Allen, Antonio Gates and Sterling Sharpe, as the athletes on the field.
The game, for gambling purposes, is now listed with the Detroit Lions favored by two points. While the game had been posted as a pick 'em early in the week, the move was prompted by Jim Harbaugh announcing his starting quarterback for the game, Trey Lance. He is expected to play the entire first half and at least one series in the third quarter. After Lance, the Chargers are expected to turn to undrafted rookie DJ Uiagalelei to finish the game.
The announcement that Harbaugh would not play his starters or top two quarterbacks, Herbert or Taylor Heinicke, sent gamblers to the window to get down on the Lions. Who did they think was going to see most of the action in this exhibition game? Betting on a preseason game because one team reveals it is not playing their starters is not a good reason to take a risk with a wager. The other team, the Lions in this case, are likely to play their starters sparingly too ... they just haven't announced it with as much fanfare as Harbaugh generated.