The Detroit Lions will almost surely win more games in 2022, but one analyst went a little further in a prediction.
The Detroit Lions simply could not recover from an 11-game winless start last season. But things looked better down the stretch, on the way to three wins in their last six games, and things are looking up heading into the 2022 season.
It’s likely to be 2023 before the Lions make real hay toward a playoff spot and play meaningful games deep in December. However, Adam Schein thinks they could stick in the Wild Card race until Thanksgiving this season and that would be an accomplishment itself.
Jim Trotter of NFL Media named five NFL teams who will improve the most in wins this year. No. 1, the Denver Broncos, better have that kind of improvement (six wins by Trotter’s estimation) after acquiring Russell Wilson this offseason.
The Lions landed at No. 2 on Trotter’s list, with an improvement of five wins over 2021.
They were winless through 11 games but finished 3-3 down the stretch. That, as much as anything, speaks to optimism for them taking a giant stride toward relevancy. Dan Campbell instilled a culture of competitive character in his first season, meaning the Lions continued to play hard even when there was nothing to play for. That might sound like a cliché, but it’s proven to be the foundation on which turnarounds are built.
The Lions have not had a winning season since 2017, but don’t be shocked if they make a run at ending that streak.
Could the Detroit Lions end their drought of winning seasons?
As Trotter noted the Lions have not had a winning season since 2017, when they went 9-7 in Jim Caldwell’s final season as head coach. Then the “Patriot Way” fully descended on Detroit when Matt Patricia was hired, and things went off the rails–from 6-10 (2018) to 3-12-1 (2019) to 5-11 (2020).
Many predictions for the Lions this year have landed in the eight or nine-win range with an easier schedule all the way around. So they are in line to make a run at ending that four-season drought without a winning campaign. It feels like longer than that though, doesn’t it?