Seven bold predictions for the Detroit Lions in 2018
By Ash Thompson
The 2017 season was a mixture of surprising joy and heart-wrenching pain for Detroit Lions fans. This was the team’s best opportunity to make some noise in the NFC North in quite some time. Green Bay Packers QB Aaron Rodgers missed enough of the season to take that team out of contention. The Lions went 5-1 in the division, losing only a single game to the Vikings.
Despite that stellar divisional performance, the Lions finished only 9-7 on the year. They say that the first step to success in the NFL is to win in the division. The Lions did that under head coach Jim Caldwell, but could not consistently win outside the division. A 4-6 record against the rest of the NFL ended Jim Caldwell’s tenure with the team. The Lions dropped contests against the Bengals and Ravens that they should have won. They looked unprepared and outmatched against lesser teams.
The new regime has brought a different attitude. Whether it is making the players run sprints at practice, or lining up in a variety of fronts to confuse opponents, this coaching staff is doing something truly different for the first time since Jim Schwartz took over from the winless 2008 team.
New Head Coach Matt Patricia has ported over much of the New England Patriots way; far more than Bob Quinn did when he came to Detroit. The Belichick mantra of “do your job” can be heard in Allen Park, and that is a good thing.
During the difficult parts of last season, some newer players could be heard remarking about the performance of their teammates. Some players could be heard remarking about the performance of the coaches, and the media continually complained about the stone wall they faced at the podium during the coach’s press conferences.
Here are some bold predictions about how the Lions 2018 season will be different. Some are for the better, but some are for the worse.