If I had told you back in October that the Detroit Lions would be considered the team to beat in the NFL going into the middle of December, you would have said I was drunk on blue Kool-Aid. Heck, maybe you would have been right. But, here we are, and after starting the season 1-6, the Detroit Lions have one six of their past seven games and 7-7. Pass over more of that blue Kool-Aid, please.

As a lifelong Lions fan, this season has been, well, a trip. It’s exciting. It’s thrilling. It makes you feel alive. The fact that the entire NFL seems to be rooting for the Lions now is icing on the cake.

The NFL is also scared of the Lions. We are Lions, after all. We are carnivorous. We fight. We roar. Loudly.

Now, NFL commentators are saying the Lions are one of the most dangerous teams in the league right now. ESPN’s “Get Up” show devoted a special segment Monday (Dec. 19) on the Lions’ wild turnaround and discussed what has happened.

“Nobody wants to play ’em,” Rex Ryan said on the show. “I’m tellin’ you that right now. How many teams 1-6 they end up folding, now we’re punting on the season, fire the coach. Not one time did that team flinch. Why? Because they’re locked in it together: head coach, general manager, all that. They have a direction for this football team. And all a year before expected to. This team is playing their butts off.”

He added, “They don’t let go of the rope. Their defense, all of a sudden yeah they struggled all year, right now they have 98 (quarterback) pressures in the last seven games, so they’re playing great. The offense is a joke, this offense is a phenomenal offense.”

So, you heard him. Beware of the Lions. We might just make a surprise appearance at the playoffs this year and have a few more tricks up our sleeves, too.