Prior to landing with the Minnesota Vikings midway through the 2022 season, tight end T.J. Hockenson had been a member of the Detroit Lions ever since they selected him in the first round of the 2019 NFL Draft.
During the majority of his tenure with the Lions, the franchise was one of the worst teams in the NFL. So, when Detroit wound up making the NFC Championship and winning 12 games last season, it shouldn't come as a shock that Hockenson was among those who were surprised by the team's success.
During a recent episode of Barstool's "Bussin' With The Boys" podcast, Minnesota's top tight end shared the following answer after he was asked if he was bitter at all about what Detroit was able to achieve without him in 2023.
"Yeah. Not crazy , but I mean, you see it, and you're like, 'Well, what's going on?' You know? And you talk to people that I played with , and they're just like, 'It just started clicking.'
...But bitterness, I really was happy for the boys that I used to play with. Obviously, I was in it for a long time. It's not fun to go out and play and not really have any success. And then, for them to have some success, I was happy for the guys that I played with.
But to, obviously, be in the same division, there's a little bit of because you be the team. We want to be the team."
Will T.J. Hockenson and the Minnesota Vikings be better than the Detroit Lions in 2024?
Last season was the first time the Lions finished with more wins than the Vikings since the 2016 campaign. Is this something that will happen again during the upcoming season?
Based on the projected win totals that oddsmakers have given Minnesota and Detroit for 2024, it seems like many believe it's something that certainly has a good chance of happening again.
According to the latest odds from Bet MGM, the Vikings' projected win total for next season is currently set at 6.5, while the Lions' projected win total is currently sitting at 10.5.
Minnesota hitting the over and winning more than 6.5 games in 2024 seems likely, given all of the talent on its roster, and the fact that the team hasn't finished with fewer than seven wins in a regular season since 2013.
As for Detroit, they have never won more than 10.5 games in back-to-back years during the entire existence of their franchise, which goes all the way back to 1930. The Lions achieved a lot in 2023, but history says their level of success will likely be lower during the 2024 season.
Luckily, we won't have to wait much longer to find out how both of these teams will perform as the start of the 2024 regular season is now less than two months away.