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The Lions entered the 2023 NFL season with high expectations for the first time in quite a while.Dan Campbell's squad became a darling, sleeper team to close the 2022 season after beating the Packers in Week 18. They earned the unexpected victory with a strong defensive effort and nearly made it into the postseason. They didn't simply because of a lost head-to-head tiebreaker against the Seahawks.However, that win made many realize that the Lions had potential. Their offense was built to win now and with some defensive upgrades, they would have a chance to become one of the best teams in the NFL.But would Detroit become a true Super Bowl contender? That was the question that the Lions would have to answer during the 2023 NFL season regardle s of the players they added to their roster.Though 11 weeks to date, they have answered that question with an emphatic "yes." The Lions are sitting at 8-2 and are in sole po se sion of second place in the NFC. If they keep winning, they may have a chance to chase down the 9-1 Eagles for the all-important No. 1 seed.NFL WEEK 12 PICKS: | Here's a breakdown of Detroit's Super Bowl Alec Ogletree Jersey odds and just how legitimate a contender the Lions are for the title.After their strong start to the season, the Lions have +1200 odds to win the Super Bowl, . Those are good for the seventh-shortest to win it all among the NFL's 32 teams.The Lions' odds give them an implied probability of 7.7 percent to win the big game. That seems like a reasonable projection given their standing among the top teams in the NFC.It's easy to envision the Lions making a run at the Super Bowl. Why? It's largely thanks to their elite offense.Jared Goff statsGoff is coming off his worst game of the year a three-interception outing against the Bears but the Lions still managed to earn a come-from-behind victory in that contest. And aside from that one bad performance, Goff has largely been good.In 10 starts, Goff has racked up an 8-2 record with 2,743 pa sing yards, 16 touchdowns and eight interceptions. And before his clunker against the Bears, during which Goff simply wasn't seeing the field that well, he had only to sed five picks.No matter how you look at it, Goff is one of the top-graded pa sers in the league. In fact, before his game against the Bears, he was the league's No. 1 graded pa ser by .StatTotalRankComp. %68.19thPa sing yards2,7435thPa s TDs1611thINTs8T-8thYards/attempt7.6T-6thPa ser rating96.110thQBR64.07thPFF grade86.95th of 38Indeed, if Goff can continue to play at a clip that could work him into the NFL MVP race, that will help the Lions lock down their first NFC North B.J. Hill Jersey title in franchise history. The Lions last won a title during the 1993 season when the division was still known as the NFC Central.And while Goff would have to outduel some premier pa sers to ultimately win a Super Bowl, he at least got the Rams to one during his time in the NFL. So, it's po sible he and the Detroit offense can get hot at the right time and forge a path to the big game.The emergence of Jahmyr GibbsThe Lions already had a good running game with David Montgomery's succe s. Now, they have a great one with first-round pick Jahmyr Gibbs working into the mix more.Gibbs is an explosive weapon out of the backfield, and he has proven to be unstoppable when given a big workload.In four games since returning from a nagging hamstring injury, Gibbs has totaled 522 yards and five touchdowns on 82 touches. That's good for an average of 130.5 yards per game and 5.6 yards per carry.Gibbs adds an element to the Lions' offense that wasn't there when Montgomery was handling a bulk of the workload. His game-breaking speed will add extra stre s to opposing defenses that already have to worry about containing the team's already high-powered offense, which is averaging the sixth-most Dalvin Tomlinson Jersey points per game at 27.2.Gibbs' speed and Montgomery's power give the Lions a well-rounded running game that has multiple ways to win. Add that to their steady pa sing game and suddenly, this offense looks quite difficult to stop.MORE: There are two things that stand out as major obstacles in the Lions' path to the Super Bowl. That would be their defensive i sues and the competition they are facing in the NFC.Detroit's defensive i suesThe Lions' defense has played well at times this season. They limited the Buccaneers and Falcons to six points each and they significantly slowed the Raiders in their 14-point outing on "Monday Night Football."However, against upper-echelon offenses, the Lions have struggled. They have allowed 37-plus points in three games against the Seahawks, Chargers and Ravens and Detroit has a record of 1-2 in those contests.The main reasons for the Lions' defensive inconsistencies are twofold. They have suffered some injuries in the secondary that have thinned the ranks there. Notably, CJ Gardner-Johnson tore his pectoral muscle earlier in the season, and his absence took away a versatile player who was expected to make an impact on the secondary.Additionally, while the team ranks seventh in the NFL with a pre sure rate of 24.3 percent, the Lions are averaging only2.3 sacks per game, tied for 22nd in the league. Thus, the team needs to get better at finishing when it gets after quarterbacks in order to consistently slow down opposing offenses.These i sues are correctable and should improve as the Lions get healthy. But if the defense continues to have its weak points, that could ultimately keep Detroit from truly competing for a Super Bowl this season.Lions' competition in the NFCThe other potential i sue at hand for the Lions is their path to a Super Bowl. The NFC is weaker Harry Carson Jersey as a conference than the AFC, but a few talented challengers have emerged in that conference. The Eagles, 49ers and Cowboys all have well-rounded teams that could give Detroit some trouble if they meet in the postseason.The 9-1 Eagles are currently on track to get the No. 1 seed, but the po sibility that should scare the Lions is a potential divisional-round matchup with the 49ers.San Francisco has one of the league's most efficient and explosive offenses and may be built to go blow-for-blow with Detroit. Like the Lions, they have a banged-up secondary, but they have a deep front seven and the added benefit of postseason experience; that's something that the Lions lack and could come back to bite them at least this season.Dan Campbell and Co. aren't going to run away from challenges. And on the right day, their offense can outscore any of those teams.But there's no denying that the path to winning the NFC is looking just a bit more difficult now than it looked at the beginning of the 2023 NFL season.POWER RANKINGS: Below is a look at each team's odds to win Super Bowl 58, per .TeamOdds49ers+450Eagles+450Chiefs+450Ravens+800Do lphins+900Cowboys+1100Lions+1200Jaguars+1800Bills+ 2800Browns+4000Seahawks+5000Texans+5000Steelers+60 00Saints+7000Vikings+8000Chargers+8000Broncos+1000 0Bengals+10000Buccaneers+15000Falcons Dexter Lawrence Jersey +15000Jets+15000Rams+15000Colts+20000Packers+20000 Raiders+25000Titans+50000Commanders+50000Patriots+ 100000Bears+100000Giants+100000Cardinals+200000Pan thers+300000So, the Lions are among the favorites to win the Super Bowl. But in a wide-open year, it's simply hard to predict who will come out on top.Regardle s of what happens, Lions fans should be happy with the result. The team is trending toward making the postseason for the first time since 2017 and may be able to earn its first playoff win since 1992. And even better, the Lions may have a shot at breaking their all-time wins record of 12, which was set during the 1991 season.So, Campbell's squad should feel good about where things are trending whether they win the Super Bowl or come up short.