DETROIT — The NFC North’s new top team could be set up for a potential letdown against the club lingering at the bottom of the AFC South standings.
The surging Detroit Lions (5-1) host the struggling — and now, it seems, rebuilding — Tennessee Titans (1-5) on Sunday, with the home team coming off an emotionally charged road win against the previously unbeaten Minnesota Vikings last weekend that created a first-place tie between those teams. (The Lions then moved a half-game ahead of Minnesota when the Vikings lost to the Los Angeles Rams on Thursday.)
The Lions are 5-1 in consecutive seasons for the first time since leaving Portsmouth, Ohio, in 1934 and have a chance to start 6-1 for the first time since 1956. Tennessee is off to its worst start since the 2015 season’s slide that cost coach Ken Whisenhunt his job after going 1-6 to open his second year.
Finally, after playing the Titans, the Lions return to the road for another big division contest, this one against the Green Bay Packers. It gives Tennessee’s visit all the makings of a classic trap game.
Detroit offensive guard Graham Glasgow, though, insisted the Titans have his attention because of their defense, which ranks among the NFL’s best.