Lions, and Packers, and Bills, Oh My!

With three weeks of the NFL season in the books, it's time to open up the "who's who" discussion board and wean out the flukes and fakers to see which young storylines we might still be talking about in Week 17.

After three short weeks, there are only three undefeated teams left in the NFL: the Lions, Packers, and Bills. The defending champion Packers are by no means a surprise, but I consider them the most underrated team in the NFL. The Packers like being an underdog, but at some point, you have to give credit where credit is due. Since the Eagles' DeSean Jackson (with help from the head and legs of the Giants' Matt Dodge not communicating) kept the Packers' playoff hopes alive with his game-winning punt return against the G-Men in Week 15 of the 2010 season, the Packers have been on 9-game winning streak, including a Super Bowl XLV victory over the favored Pittsburgh Steelers.

Perhaps a reason for not being in most "powerhouse" conversations like the Patriots, Steelers, Jets, lackluster Eagles, and healthy Colts, is the fact that only two of these nine games have been decided by more than 10 points. I think this is a staggering statistic, considering half of these wins were in win-or-go-home situations. The Packers are winners and they find a way to get it done week in and week out, and that is why they are going to be talked about well after Week 17.

Meanwhile, after an extremely impressive victory this weekend over the omni-dominant New England Patriots, the Buffalo Bills need only a victory next week over the omni-mediocre Cincinnati Bengals to tie their victory total from last year. I really like this Bills team, but it pains me to say they look a lot like the Kansas City Chiefs of two years ago. Ryan Fitzpatrick is the real deal, no doubt, and he improves every week.

Nonetheless though, he still has some mistakes to make and learn from until I see him leading a team deep into the playoffs. I hope I'm wrong, because the Bills are fun to watch and they have a lot of genuinely good guys on their squad (Fred Jackson's fan shout-out after the win was extremely classy), but I think due to a less-than-stellar defense (24th in passing and rushing defense), the Bills won't end the season with double-digits in the win column and if they do make the playoffs, they won't make it past the first round.

Last, but not least, the Detroit Lions. We hear the term "rebuilding year" way too often in sports as an excuse for being horrible. I think 2009 was just that for the Detroit Lions, though. As good as Matthew Stafford is becoming, I think the best offseason pickup for the '09 Lions was coach Jim Schwartz. I'd be lying if I said that I had all the confidence in the world in Schwartz after he took the Lions to a (sad but true) "much improved" 2-14 year, but when he didn't get fired, I started to believe what the Lions were saying about 2009 being a rebuilding year.

I started believing in the Lions last year when they all but defeated the Bears on a Calvin Johnson dropped (by rule) touchdown pass late in the fourth quarter. The next week, the Lions lost by only 3 to a playoff-bound Eagles team (granted, before the Eagles decided to play Michael "Not Even Fair How Good I Was Last Year" Vick) and then took the future champion Packers to the wire two weeks later in Green Bay, losing only by 2 points. As I mentioned before, the Packers had that "get it done" x-factor late in games last year and the Lions did not. This year, though, the Lions do have it and I wouldn't be surprised if they ended with 12 or 13 wins, including one against the division rival Packers.

This season is already shocking and exciting, and I don't see it slowing down any time soon. I would be very surprised to see any of these teams stay undefeated for much longer, though, especially due to the fact that the Packers and Lions play each other (at least) twice. I wouldn't, however, be anywhere near surprised to see an All-NFC North Championship Game, and I would go as far as saying it wouldn't surprise me to see it played in Detroit.