What are the Detroit Lions’ prospects this year? Well, with the 2018 NFL season now in full swing, the Lions are looking to be in pretty good shape. After a couple of demoralizing, heavy defeats during the preseason, the season proper has been strong so far.
If you follow the team reports you’ll know that Week 1 saw a close run game ending 30-27 to the San Francisco 49ers, and then the victory over the New England Patriots, with a convincing final score of 26-10 offered extreme promise. Is this the year for the Detroit Lions? Are they finally going to end that Super Bowl drought? Are they hungry enough to go beyond their performances of the last few years? We take a look and try to figure out what to expect this time around. Let’s begin by traveling back to 2015….
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2015 – A Season of Two Halves
2015 was very much a season of two halves for the Lions. The first half was extremely dramatic and not one that is fondly remembered by anyone. It opened horribly with 5 losses in a row. Week 6 then finally saw a win against Chicago Bears but it was extremely close and only just taken by the Lions in overtime to end on 37-34. Weeks 7 and 8 saw the team take further losses and the staff takes some big hits too as several coaches were fired, including Offensive Coordinator Joe Lombardi as well as President Tom Lewand and General Manager Martin Mayhew.
After Bye Week it was a totally different story, with 6 wins and two losses. These saw the franchise finish at 7-9 overall and third place in the NFC North setting them up for a much better season in 2016.
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2016 – Making the Playoffs, Baby!
Making the playoffs this year for the first time since 2014 was a beautiful thing for the Lions. Perhaps it had something to do with the cheerleaders and their encouragement since the 2016 season was the first in which the Lions actually had an official cheerleading squad for decades! Following a tied finish with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for the final NFC playoff spot, the Lions’ record against common opponents gave them the edge.
Defeat finally came, however, at the NFC Wild Card Playoffs at the hands of the Seattle Seahawks, (or, more specifically, at the hands of that dangerous weapon of a QB Russell Wilson, currently the second highest rated NFL passer of all time.)
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2017 – Jim Caldwell’s Last Year
With Jim Caldwell at the helm as Lions head coach for the fourth and final year running, this season was a good one for the franchise. Eliminated from contention in Week 16, not qualifying for the playoffs, they did nonetheless complete the season with a 9-7 record.
The 2017 season saw a good performance overall from the Lions that included a morale-boosting victory over division rivals the Green Bay Packers. This win, in particular, should serve as an encouraging precedent for Week 5 of 2018 when the Lions will once again face the Packers. That the game will be played on home turf is a definite bonus too….
