Improving Lions, Jags face off in Detroit

Normally, a December matchup between 4-7 teams wouldn’t get much attention.

The Detroit Lions and Jacksonville Jaguars, though, might be worth a watch on Sunday. The young teams are playing much better than they did during terrible starts to the season.

At the end of October, the Lions were 1-6, but they started November with wins over the Packers, Bears and Giants — the last two on the road — before taking Buffalo to the final play in a 28-25 Thanksgiving Day loss.

The Jaguars finished October at 2-6, but beat the Raiders at home, played a decent game in a loss at AFC-best Kansas City, then came back from their bye to beat the AFC North-leading Baltimore Ravens last Sunday.

“Our whole focus has to be on the team that’s coming in here on Sunday, because they are very much a mirror image of us,” Lions coach Dan Campbell said. “They are starting over a little bit with a new coach, and they are hungry with a ton of talent coming off their best win of the season.

“If we don’t understand that, we won’t have a chance. If we do, I like our odds.”

Strengths and weaknesses

The Jaguars and Lions have gotten to 4-7 in different ways. Jacksonville has outscored its opponents by 12 points and ranks