Monday Night Football: Saints Slight Favorites At Home Against Lions

USA Today

The Monday Night Football matchup for Week 15 is one the NFL wishes it could change. There’s nothing on the line when the New Orleans Saints host the Detroit Lions on Monday with both teams sitting in last place in their respective divisions. Although not mathematically out of playoff contention, the writing is on the wall that the season is officially over for both teams.

According to Sportsbook.ag, the Saints are favored to win this game between two last place teams. New Orleans will be sporting a -3 point spread and probably only due to the fact they’ll be playing at home at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.

Although both teams won’t have playoff implications on the line heading into this matchup, the outcome is something both sides will still be concerned about. The coaching staff for the Saints will be under the gun with head coach Sean Payton possibly playing for his job in the team’s remaining games. Jim Caldwell of the Lions might be in the same boat meaning they’ll want to win the rest of their games in hopes of staying employed.

Throughout the course of the 2015 NFL season, both of these teams have shown signs of promise. After overhauling the front office recently, Detroit started to show potential, but a hail mary pass from Aaron Rodgers of the Green Bay Packers seemed to have burst their bubble a couple of weeks ago.

The Lions have a great shot of ending their season on the high note with a relatively easy schedule to end the year. Detroit will face the Saints on Monday followed by the San Francisco 49ers next week and a season finale against the division rival Chicago Bears. That being said, Matthew Stafford and company may have some extra motivation to finish strong and that alone is enough to take them to pull off the slight upset (+3) on the road in New Orleans.