NFL Week 13 expert picks: Analysts like Lions over Ravens

Spirits are a little low for Detroit Lions fans this week. The team has backed themselves into a corner after a loss to the Minnesota Vikings on Thanksgiving. Now, they’ll like have to win at least four of their five final games to sniff the postseason. And most fans don’t believe they can get it done.

But every week of football brings a new wave of optimism. This week, it comes in the form of expert picks. Despite being a three-point underdog to the Baltimore Ravens, the Lions are actually the more popular pick among NFL analysts this week. Check it out:

National analysts:

ESPN: 5 of 10 picked Lions
SB Nation: 5 of 8 picked Lions
CBS Sports: 4 of 8 picked Lions
Pro Football Focus: 3 of 9 picked Lions
Sports Illustrated: 5 of 6 picked Lions

Total: 22 of 41 picked Lions (53.7%)

It isn’t much, but considering the Lions are road underdogs, this is a pretty clear show of faith among experts that they believe Detroit is the superior team to Baltimore.

Locally, despite our internal pessimism, analysts are singing the same tune.

Local analysts:

MLive: 2 of 2 picked Lions
Freep: 3 of 4 picked Lions
Detroit News: 4 of 4 picked Lions
Detroit Jock City: 3 of 8 picked Lions
Pride of Detroit: 4 of 10 picked Lions

Total: 16 of 28 picked Lions (57.1%)

Do you feel the same way? Are the experts just falsely getting our hopes up? Vote in our poll below on who you think is going to win Sunday’s game.