Bailey started the Lions-Ravens section saying “the Lions have been fantastic this year,” but specifically called attention to Jared Goff’s play right off the bat.Bailey: “Jared Goff. Aaron Schatz, let’s talk about Jared Goff. Because if you look at his last 17 games: 29 touchdowns, four picks. He’s playing amazing. And for all the people that are saying oh “Brock Purdy MVP candidate,” “Tua Tagovailoa MVP candidate” — if you’re saying those two are MVP candidates…”

Schatz (nodding): “You have to say Goff too. Goff’s in the same boat, yeah. He (has) very similar issues.”

Bailey: “So I’m loving what I see from Detroit. I think right now they’re the second best team in the NFC.”

(Skipping a few sentences about Baltimore)

Schatz: “I mean, we have the Lions as the number two team in the league this year. We have them behind only San Francisco. So, they’ve been fantastic and they’ve been very well balanced, right? They can run. They can pass. Although their running backs are all injured for this game. They can stop the run. They can stop the pass.”

(Skipping a bit more about Baltimore)

Schatz: “This is another one where, I mean the line is Ravens by 3 and I just think the Lions are the better team.”

Both the host and guest had great things to say about all parts of the team, but they also thought the Lions have a lot of room to look even better than they already do. After acknowledging how much better the defense is this year, Bailey made the point that the defense has been this much better even without a lot of the players they brought in due to injuries (Branch, Moseley, Gardner-Johnson).

Then Bailey mentioned he’d talked to Ben Raven from MLive about the sense the beat writers have about how good the team is. The host said he agreed with broad sentiment that the current Detroit Lions are a very good team that could go far in the postseason if they keep it up:Bailey: “It feels very real that they could make a run at the NFC Championship Game and it wouldn’t be flukey. I think i’m in the same boat where they could absolutely be one of the final four teams in the league.”

Schatz: “Yeah, hey. You know, Jared Goff has led a team to a Super Bowl. Like, it’s happened. I know people… we write him off, but he has led a team to a Super Bowl so it’s doable. And they have a lot of talent on both sides of the ball, and good coaching, and a great offensive coordinator, and it is absolutely doable for them to make the NFC Championship game. Sure. Yeah. I would favor them against the Eagles right now.”

Bailey: “I would too. I think that right now they’re better than the Eagles and I don’t think it’s much of a conversation. In terms of the way that they’ve played, the efficiency that they’ve been. Not a huge dropoff: the Eagles are eighth in terms of efficiency, the Lions are fifth. It’s not like a giant gap, but it’s big enough where I can say okay the Lions they’ve looked dominant, they’ve beaten teams by multiple scores multiple times this season. I just think right now they look more in sync and more like a well oiled machine than Philadelphia does.”

Schatz: “Yeah. Yes.”

Until Aaron Schatz says to slow our roll, we’ll leave you with those happy thoughts and aspirations for the Lions’ season. Now, on to the rest of today’s Notes:

It’s not just Aaron Schatz and Jarrett Bailey saying it. Bucky Brooks wrote on NFL.com that he believes “Yes, the Lions ARE Super Bowl contenders.”

Rich Eisen this week had lengthy segments on the Lions posted to YouTube. On Tuesday, the Rich Eisen Show posted a 7-minute segment titled “Why the rest of the NFL should feat the Detroit Lions.” That same day, Eisen had Dan Patrick on the show to talk about whether or not Jared Goff should be in the MVP discussion (Both Patrick and Eisen think yes, with the same justification that Jarrett Bailey gave). On Friday, the show put up a nearly 10-minute segment discussing the “Real Possibility” of a Jaguars-Lions Super Bowl.