If head coach Matt Patricia wasn’t able to convince you that the Detroit Lions were heading in the right direction after last year’s 6-10 finish, this might sting a little.
USA Today writer Nate Davis recently took a shot at predicting what record each of the teams in the NFL would finish next season with. Apparently, he doesn’t think that the Lions have done much to improve upon last year’s finish. Quite the contrary, actually.
From Davis:
“Detroit Lions (3-13): Difficult to envision coach Matt Patricia improving on his 6-10 debut. Four of their eight home dates come against 2018 playoff outfits — a figure that doesn’t include the Packers or Vikings. Two West Coast trips in season’s first half unlikely to help, either.”
He has the Minnesota Vikings winning the division with a 12-4 mark, the Chicago Bears finishing in a close second place at 11-5, and the Green Bay Packers finishing at 9-7.
What might be the most damning about this projection is the fact that it is indeed backed up by some legitimate logic. The Lions do host four teams that made the playoffs last season, and it appears that both the Vikings and Packers could in fact be better this year than they were last. These two points alone don’t seem to aid Detroit’s case.
Detroit opens the season in Glendale for a date with rookie quarterback Kyler Murray and the Arizona Cardinals. If you chalk that up as an easy win, I refer you back to last year’s season opener (Sam Darnold‘s first career NFL game).
Their next three games don’t look very aesthetically pleasing, either. Host the Los Angeles Chargers, travel to the Philadelphia Eagles, and host the Kansas City Chiefs. I don’t know if I personally give Detroit a win in any of those games, and none of those are divisional matchups. Can you realistically say that the Lions are going to travel to Minnesota, Green Bay, OR Chicago and win a game? Just looking at those seven games, I could very easily and realistically see seven losses.
Without deep-diving into the remainder of the schedule, I can understand where this prediction comes from. Can the Lions rise to the occasion and prove doubters wrong? We’ll see, but there is definite potential for this to be another VERY long season for the Lions and their fans.
