Odds are Dan Campbell probably doesn’t spend a lot of time thinking about his team’s TV ratings, but on the off chance the head coach of the Detroit Lions needs something new to regale the barista with while he’s placing his tachycardia-inducing a.m. Starbucks order, let it be known that the No. 1 seed in the NFC is also the National Football League’s top national draw.
You heard it here first: The Lions, a symbol of futility and the inherent unfairness of it all for more years than most of us have been sentient, closed out the regular season as the most-watched NFL franchise. Over the course of 10 wild and woolly national TV dates, Campbell’s charges scared up 22.6 million viewers per game, edging the perennial ratings champs in Dallas by some 175,000 impressions.
Yes, those Lions. The same bunch that two years ago had been limited to a pair of national windows (a pittance compared to the Cowboys’ standard dose of 11 big dates) is now the most popular team on the tube. Dallas put up a good fight, and the Chiefs hung around there for the better part of the season, but in 2024, nobody could lay a glove on the high-scoring, thrill-seeking bunch from the Motor City.
As shocking as the Lions’ ascension may seem—they’re basically putting up peak Friends numbers after decades of being remanded to a 3 a.m. infomercial slot—anyone who’s put in a few hours with this team probably understands why Detroit is the toast of the network ad sales crowd. If it’s axiomatic that florid bursts of scoring are fun to watch and that said fun makes for a superior viewing experience, then the Lions’ drawing power is largely self-explanatory.
Having scored 564 points during the regular season, Detroit burned out more scoreboard lightbulbs than just about any franchise this side of the 2013 Broncos. (Denver’s 606-point spree was powered by Peyton Manning’s Madden-on-Rookie-Mode run; the 37-year-old connected on 55 regular-season touchdown passes before the Seahawks brought him back down to earth in Super Bowl XLVIII.) The Lions’ average tally of 33.2 points per game was a touchdown and a field goal better than the league average (22.9), good for a 45% advantage over the rest of the field.
Detroit’s scoring differential was similarly overwhelming at +222. And while the next batch of runners-up is plenty scary, the Lions are playing in rare air. Philly cranked out a +160 point differential, edging the Bills and Ravens at +157 each. In the course of a franchise-best 15-2 stampede, Detroit’s average margin of victory was 15.5 points per game, and while that stat was padded by a full AFC South slate—the Lions crushed the quartet 154-49—nobody in their right mind would have expected Campbell to take his foot off the gas.
Ah, Dan Campbell. If it’s a stretch to suggest that most people watch the Lions simply to keep tabs on their maniac coach, Campbell is arguably the most compelling guy to sport a metaphorical whistle around his neck since Rex Ryan camped out on the back page of the New York Post for the better part of five years. Among the things that are fun about Dan Campbell include: a) his striking resemblance to the titular excavator from the classic kids’ book Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel, b) his unshakeable propensity for going for it on fourth down, and c) his improbable ownership of a pair of teacup Yorkies named Thelma and Louise.
That middle bit is probably what we need to be focusing on here, as it’s not as if Campbell brings his dogs to the games. (For one thing, there’s a non-zero chance that man-mountain offensive tackle Dan Skipper would try to eat the little monsters.) Setting aside the delightful incongruity between the coach who once promised to bite off peoples’ kneecaps and his miniature companions, the fourth-down factor is a big part of what makes the Lions Must-See TV. Since Campbell made his introductory patella-gnawing speech in 2021, Detroit has attempted more fourth-down conversions (151) than any other team in the NFL. If the book says “punt,” Dan Campbell says something to the effect of, “this isn’t Oprah’s goddamn reading club.”
It’s not so much that Campbell is aggressive as he’s forever thumbing his nose in the face of statistical probability and good horse sense. Somewhere inside his home there’s probably a throw pillow embroidered with the legend, “Overthinking things will kill you faster than Chinese toothpaste.” The pillow is sodden with Thelma and Louise’s slobber, but that’s none of your business.
The Lions this season have converted on 66.7% of their fourth-down chances, good for seventh among all 32 teams, but Campbell’s perceived recklessness has served as a sort of engraved invitation for the naysayers. “Don’t put Dan Campbell on my sideline,” ESPN analyst Tedy Bruschi groused during an on-air segment last month. “I don’t know the emotional control of this coach. I mean, every single time? Does it have to be every single time?”
Counterpoint: Sounds like someone has let himself get a little soft. Get in there and chew on some kneecaps, Tedy—or would you rather read a book?
Ah, hell: Maybe Tedy’s right. Maybe the bastard spawn of Henry Rollins and Tony Robbins is too loosey-goosey when the ref flips the down marker and everyone gets a gander at that big orange “4.” Maybe 820 mg of caffeine is too much go-juice for a mere mortal, and maybe the Lions would be better off with a coach who doesn’t Kool-Aid Man his way through every short-yardage situation. And, sure, maybe it’s weird that Campbell calls his players things like “a frickin’ serpent” and “the spider of death.” Maybe.
Or maybe Dan Campbell’s onto something here. The Lions are 9.5-point home favorites against the Commanders, who (for what it’s worth) have converted on 87% of their fourth-down attempts. The last time Detroit won an NFL title was 68 years ago, when Eisenhower was president and Bill Belichick was still wearing footy pajamas. If Campbell can pull it off, Ford will probably name a minivan after him. It will be the only minivan on the U.S. auto market that can pop wheelies. Imagine having to clean up after that parade.
As we await the weekend, Detroit is not only the NFL’s most watchable team, but even their long-suffering fan base is seemingly more vested than ever before. In a season where only nine teams managed to draw a bigger audience in their home markets, Dan Campbell’s Lions saw their local ratings jump 10%. Only one other team, the Houston Texans, managed a bigger year-over-year boost.
Perhaps the thing that makes these Lions such a compelling story is that they haven’t been around long enough for everyone to have gotten sick of them yet. If, according to a Taylor Swift song I had to Google, familiarity breeds discontent, then the Chiefs’ watery ubiquity may have unearthed a collective desire to move on to something new, something less workaday. Even Jake from State Farm seems bored with these guys, and he gets paid to hang out with them.
However things shake out over the course of the next few weeks, the Detroit Lions are your regular-season ratings champs. We’ll see how long the infatuation lasts, but if Campbell’s crew winds up bringing home the Lombardi Trophy, it may be tough for any team to dislodge them from the top slot next year—unless the Coach Prime to Dallas or Las Vegas rumors pan out.
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In which case: Time to join that book club.
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