Week 6 NFL expert picks: No one at CBS, PFF picking Lions over Saints

At first, it didn’t seem like many national analysts were fazed by the Detroit Lions’ loss to the Carolina Panthers last week. Most experts kept Detroit in the top 10 of their power rankings and people were still high on the team overall.

But when it comes to making their picks this week, there was a huge dropoff in support for the Lions. After over 80 percent of experts picked Detroit to win last week, that number has dropped below 30 percent against the 2-2 New Orleans Saints. Take a look.

National analysts:

ESPN: 3 of 9 picked Lions
SB Nation: 4 of 8 picked Lions
CBS Sports: 0 of 8 picked Lions
Pro Football Focus: 0 of 9 picked Lions
Sports Illustrated: 4 of 6 picked Lions

Total: 11 of 40 picked Lions (27.5%)

While ESPN, SB Nation and Sports Illustrated are essentially split on the two teams, CBS and Pro Football Focus are unanimously picking against the Lions this week. It’s not all that surprising to see the majority picking New Orleans—they’re riding a two-game winning streak, they’ve had a week of rest and they’re at home—but it’s pretty shocking to see no one in Detroit’s corner from those two sources.

Local analysts:

MLive: 0 of 2 picked Lions
Freep: 1 of 4 picked Lions
Detroit News: 1 of 4 picked Lions
Detroit Jock City: 5 of 7 picked Lions
Pride of Detroit: 8 of 10 picked Lions

Total: 15 of 27 picked Lions (55.6%)

Locally, it’s a little more split, but those numbers are a bit skewed by the two Lions fansites: ourselves and Detroit Jock City. Together, 76.5 percent of fan bloggers believe Detroit will head into the bye with a win. As for the other three sources, only two of 10 (20 percent) have faith in Detroit.

If the Lions want some hype before entering their bye, they are going to have to prove a lot of doubters wrong.