NFL betting: Oddsmakers expect Jets, Lions, Jaguars to be in Super Bowl mix next season
It's the future. You've just tricked your AI boss into letting you off work early. A minute later, you're on the street in a full sprint for reasons that are twofold. One, you don't want to be late. Two, an entire unit of police robot dogs is chasing you, courtesy of Boston Dynamics. You reach into your coat pockets, pull out a couple handfuls of USB flash drives filled with JPEGs of meat and toss them onto the ground. As the dogs devour the digital treats, you slip away to your friend's underground bunker, where all your pals have gathered to watch the Super Bowl between the New York Jets and the Detroit Lions. It's February 11, 2024.
Oddmakers believe this scenario might happen. Or at least, the Jets versus Lions part. Three of the NFL's perennial doormats — all of whom opened at 100-to-1 or greater to win the 2022 Super Bowl — are tied with the Green Bay Packers for the ninth-shortest odds to claim the Lombardi Trophy in 2023. The Jets, Lions and Jaguars are each listed at 25-to-1 to win Super Bowl LVIII on BetMGM.
So you're telling me there's a chance
Jacksonville is one of four AFC teams that have never played in the big game. They came close five years ago but blew a double-digit fourth-quarter lead to Tom Brady and the New England Patriots in the AFC championship.
Dark times followed, kickers were kicked, and the Jags suffered the embarrassing pleasure of holding the first overall pick in consecutive drafts. Then came Doug Pederson and a spending splurge to turn the ship around and dock it in the 2022 playoffs, where the Jags erased a 27-point deficit to shock the Chargers. Kansas City knocked Jacksonville out of the postseason the following week.
A statement had already been made, though. Trevor Lawrence, Travis Etienne and Christian Kirk are gigantic cogs in an extremely dangerous offensive machine that's expected to add Calvin Ridley next season. This franchise is only a few pieces on defense away from being a serious contender.
Without a decent quarterback, the Jets won't sniff the Super Bowl in 2023. If they happen to land one, though? Sniff city. New York has been linked to Aaron Rodgers and Lamar Jackson in recent days. Plug in a former MVP alongside Breece Hall, Garrett Wilson and Elijah Moore, and boom goes the dynamite. Robert Saleh's defense is already championship-caliber, ranking fifth in DVOA last season. It has been a dozen years since the team's last playoff victory and more than a half-century since its lone title.
The Lions are the only franchise in the NFC that has never played in a Super Bowl. They've lost eight consecutive playoff games, with their last postseason win coming 31 years ago versus the Cowboys.
Dan Campbell was hired to usher in a new era in Detroit, an era in which fans recycle their brown paper bags after trips to the grocery store instead of saving them for Sunday headgear at Ford Field. The Lions might not have earned a postseason berth under Campbell yet, but they came within a kneecap bite in 2022.
The return of offensive coordinator Ben Johnson and a healthy Jameson Williams could boost Detroit's offense even higher than 2022's fifth-place DVOA finish. However, while their defense improved over the second half of the season, they still ended up ranked 28th and seem to be quite a ways from competing for a Super Bowl.
Stats provided by Pro Football Reference, StatMuse and Football Outsiders.
