Unlike in 1980, Smart Money Is on Lions in 2011

The NFL season is chopped into fours, not unlike what the ponies have to deal with at Pimlico.It’s often times just as foolhardy to put good money on the leaders at the first turn in pro football as it is on the fast starting horses sprinting out of the gate at the track.The NFL gives us 16 games per team, per year—nice and divisible by four. The NFL has always been fond of quarters, as you know.The first turn of 2011 is going to be made after Monday night’s game. Each team will have played four games. As usual, there are some horses making that turn that are either the real deal or destined for the glue factory.OH—look at who’s charging on the outside. Our own Detroit Lions!The Lions don’t charge out of the gate, as a rule. The past decade has been filled with false starts, if you will. If it were harness racing, many years the Lions would have been passed by the pace car before the gate folded up.But here we are, at the first turn of 2011, and the Lions can be no worse than 3-1 af...