Dan Campbell Reveals Team Lions Expect to Face 1st in Playoffs

The Detroit Lions ended the regular season with their best win of the season, a 31-9 demolition over the Minnesota Vikings to finish with the best record in the NFC for the first time in franchise history. After wrapping up their best regular season of all time, the Lions are entering the playoffs as the favorites to win the Super Bowl (+285) per FanDuel Sportsbook.

The most important aspect of the win in Week 18 is the fact that the Lions got a first-round bye. As a team that was ravaged by injuries all year long, getting additional rest before their first postseason game will do wonders as the Lions try to get healthy for their Super Bowl run.

In their first playoff game, Detroit will face the lowest remaining seed in the divisional round. This will either be the winner of the Vikings-Rams matchup or one of Washington and Green Bay if they manage to pull off an upset against their higher-seeded opponents; the Bucs and the Eagles, respectively.

Lions head coach Dan Campbell already seems to know who his team will be facing, however. After the win on Sunday, Campbell approached Vikings head coach Kevin O'Connell and told him that he would see him in two weeks.

Dan Campbell Expects to Face the Vikings in Divisional Round

This means that Campbell expects the Bucs and the Eagles to win their wild-card matchups while believing that the Vikings will go to Los Angeles and come away with the road win over the Rams.

The only team Minnesota lost to this season besides the Lions was the Rams in Week 8. Yet, they open as 2.5-point road favorites at SoFi Stadium on Monday.

Considering how dominant the Vikings have been the entire season, the opening odds and Campbell's sentiment make a ton of sense. They arguably have been the second-best team in the NFC all year and will look to prove doubters wrong for counting them out.

By losing in Week 18, the Vikings lost home-field advantage throughout the playoffs. They will be significant underdogs if they face the Lions in the divisional round as they have lost five straight against them and haven't won at Ford Field since the meaningless Week 17 at the end of the 2020 season.

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