The Detroit Lions had only beaten Tom Brady and the New England once since the turn of the millennium—a dominating 34-9 win at the Silverdome back in 2000 before the Patriots dynasty was a thing.
So Sunday’s convincing win over the New England Patriots was somewhat of a rarity for the franchise, and whether it says more about the Lions or the Patriots is something we’ll likely find out several weeks from today.
But for now, Lions fans are feeling it.
Last week, Lions fans were only 30th in overall team confidence, according to SB Nation’s 32 individual team FanPulse polls. This week, no other fanbase saw a bigger jump in confidence. Take a look:
Smile!
Confidence jumped from a lowly 18 percent after Week 2’s loss to the 49ers to 66 percent this week. The only other teams that saw a similar jump this week were the Bills (43 to 73) the Giants (16 to 54), and Washington (36 to 74).
Now let’s check in on the rest of the NFC North:
Not even a disappointing tie could touch Vikings fans’ confidence through the first two weeks of the season. Then they got embarrassed on their home turf against the freakin Buffalo Bills and now they’re panicking in Minnesota like their kicker just lined up for a game-winning field goal.
They’re not quite as reactionary over in Green Bay, but their confidence is hovering around 50 percent after losing to Washington. The Bears, on the other hand, are humming along at the top of the NFC North... but their time will come.
What’s perhaps most interesting about these polls is that despite the huge drop in confidence for both the Vikings and the Packers, both fanbases are adamant that their team is still the best in the division. And everyone but Lions fans have absolutely no confidence in Detroit:
Safe to say no one in the NFC North respects the #Lions despite Sunday's big win. (@acmepackingco @WCGridiron @DailyNorseman) pic.twitter.com/f3Q3MCYhEg
— Pride of Detroit (@PrideOfDetroit) September 27, 2018
Yep, every fanbase outside of Detroit thinks they support the best team in the division. Is that a sign that Lions fans are more level-headed, or is Detroit truly the worst team in the North, and the fans kind of know it? Only time will really tell.
Want to be a part of these weekly surveys? Join SB Nation’s FanPulse, a survey of fans across the NFL powered by SurveyMonkey. Each week, we send 32 polls to 100+ plugged in fans from each team. Lions fans, sign up HERE to join FanPulse.