Now that the NFL season is officially over, Detroit Lion’s fans are free to begin fantasizing about their Super Bowl appearance next year. After all, this is our year, right? With Bill Belichick’s apprentice coming over from New England and franchise quarterback Matthew Stafford still in his prime expectations are high, extremely high. Well, that is for the people in Detroit.
Apparently, not everyone is drinking the Honolulu blue kool-aid just yet. ESPN just released a “Way-too-early” power ranking for the NFL next year, and not too many surprises as the top as the Patriots and Eagles were ranked number one and two, respectively. The surprise for Lions fans happens nearly 20 spots later as your Detroit Lions currently sit at number 20 in the power rankings.
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Not to worry though Lions fans, in case you thought these rankings were a rock solid prediction for next year the “Way-too-early” predictions for last year had three teams in the top five that missed the playoffs. With Dallas, Green Bay, and Seattle ranked three, four, and five respectively. And for what it’s worth the eventual Super Bowl Champion Eagles soared in and number 23.
A couple other notable rankings to keep an eye on. The fellow NFC North opponents are sprinkled throughout the list. The Minnesota Vikings top the division, coming in at fourth. While Green Bay follows right behind them at number eight. The Chicago Bears find themselves wayyy back at number 31. Only beating out the Cleveland Browns (who might jump them when they get a quarterback).
Obviously, a few things will happen between now and the first game that will certainly alter these rankings, considering the draft and free agency are both a few months out. With that said the Lions do have some serious holes to fill on their roster before they can truly take that next step. The most obvious is fixing the broken, defective run game. That goes for upgrading both the offensive line and maybe, more importantly, finding a capable running back.
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With Matt Patricia coming over it is fair to expect some upgrades and improvement on the defensive side of the ball as well. The defensive-minded Patricia has already started to bring some coaches on to his staff to help improve the Lions 27th ranked defense. One of the main focuses will be finding some help up front for our defensive line, both at the tackle and end position.
