Chicago is 1-3. Detroit is 4-0. Both defenses have given up exactly 162 points through four games, and the only thing standing between those two seasons is that the Lions have scored 230, more than any team in the league, and have won every track meet they've been dragged into. That is a season resting on a mechanism that has to fire again next Sunday, and the Sunday after that.
It also has to fire against a team that doesn't need one. Two of the three unbeaten teams in the league play in the same division, and only one of them can win it. Nothing in the records separates the Lions from the Packers. Tiebreakers will, and tiebreakers do not care that Detroit's differential is 30 points better.
Among the unbeatens, the method splits hard. Baltimore has scored 177 and allowed 67, a differential of 110 that no one else is near. Green Bay has scored the same 177 and allowed 139. Detroit has allowed 95 more points than Baltimore and is undefeated anyway. Three identical records, three completely different bets about what November looks like.
Bracket: Lions, Packers, Ravens, Chiefs: evidence view
The registered comparison supports the article without adding unverified values.
Source: standings:s1:w4 · As of S1 W4 · Unit: points · Sample: 4 · Denominator: Teams in the verified standings pressure cluster
Small sample: interpret this view with the stated denominator.
View verified data table
| Team | Wins | Point differential |
|---|---|---|
| Ravens | 4 | 110 |
| Lions | 4 | 68 |
| Chiefs | 3 | 46 |
| Packers | 4 | 38 |
Kansas City is not in that group. The Chiefs are 3-1 with a differential of 46, and the loss came in Las Vegas on a night that produced six touchdowns and the losing side of it, 51-45. One game back in Week 4 costs nothing in the standings. It costs the argument that the top of the board is four teams deep.
Both North teams are run by first-year owners, so Season 1 hands neither of them a prior December to point at or hide behind. TheWitt runs Detroit, and the 162 belongs to him: only three teams in the league have allowed more, and those three are a combined 1-11. Green Bay has already surrendered 23 fewer. Baltimore can win a January game 13-10 if it has to. TheWitt's roster has not been given that option — the Lions win by scoring 30, and in a cold-weather game they did not design, they will still have to score 30.
— Daniela Morales, Bracket
