Everyone enjoys supporting the underdog, and the Detroit Lions did just that on Sunday after missing out on a postseason game for 32 years. In addition, the Lions’ 2023–24 campaign is off to a far, far better start than any in recent memory, with a 13-5 record.
And now, more than half of the nation is supporting Detroit to win the championship.
Based on social media data collected by Bet Online—a website that creates sports-related visualisations and maps using trends software—the Detroit Lions are the most popular pick in the country to win the 2023–24 NFL playoffs.
After the divisional round pairings were announced, more than 200,000 social media messages were monitored, revealing that 27 states were supporting the Lions. With just seven states, the 49ers came in second, thus Detroit is winning by a wide margin.
The map was made using information obtained from the social media platform X, which was formerly known as Twitter. It tracked fan hashtags from every state over the course of the last week, including “#OnePride” from the Detroit Lions, “#GoNiners” from the San Francisco 49ers, “#BillsMafia” from the Buffalo Bills, “#WeAreTexans” from the Houston Texans, “#RavensFlock” from the Baltimore Ravens, “#GoPackGo” from the Green Bay Packers, “#ChiefsKingdom” from Kansas City Chiefs, and “#GoBucs” from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
