The Detroit Lions have been nothing but a disappointment to their fans for as long as they have been around, but this year they are hoping for a different story. Last season started off terrible for Detroit, starting 0-5 before finally getting a win at home against the Chicago Bears in week six. After finally getting their first win of the season, Detroit dropped two in a row and went into their bye week with a 1-7 record and their season all but over. The bye week passed and Lions fans were expecting much of the same from their team, but the team thought differently. Detroit finished their season on a 6-2 run and ended with a final record of 7-9, which landed them in third place in the NFC North. Another disappointing season was in the books for the Lions and fans began to prepare for much of the same in 2016 that is until something finally was done. Lions GM Martin Mayhew was fired and Dan Quinn was brought in.
Now with a new GM, Detroit fans finally started to see their hopes and dreams of having a winning season began to form. The only questions left for fans now were “what will Quinn do to help the team?” and “will Calvin come back for another year?” Both of those questions were answered around the time of the NFL draft. Calvin Johnson decided to call it a career and Dan Quinn had an awesome first draft as GM of the Lions. Although their draft was not an A+ draft, it was an overall solid draft. The next step was free agency.
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The free agency goal was to add a wide receiver that could help fill the void that is being left by Calvin, and Detroit did just that by signing former Cincinnati Bengal Marvin Jones. Joining Marvin as new receivers for Stafford to throw to are Jeremy Kerley, Andre Caldwell, and Anquan Boldin. Not only did they add some skill to the offense, but they beefed up on defense as well. The Lions signed safeties Tavon Wilson and Rafael Bush to add depth to the secondary. While they did not do much in free agency to address the defensive line other than re-signing Haloti Ngata and Tyrunn Walker, Detroit did draft a young, talented one in A’Shawn Robinson. Free agency as a whole the Detroit Lions was just like their draft, not amazing, but it was pretty good.
The 2016 season will be very different for the Detroit Lions, not just because of Calvin Johnson not being available to throw to, but because they finally have a good management team that wants to turn them into a Super Bowl contender. With a relatively easy schedule, the Lions should have a winning record and should contend for a wild-card spot in the NFC. With the Vikings improving and the Packers constantly being good, Detroit will likely finish third in the NFC North yet again, but not without giving each of those teams a run for their money. The offensive will not be as threatening down the field, but they will explosive and cause trouble for opposing defenses. The Lions defense will not be the best in the league, but they will not easy to score on. With an improved secondary and defensive line, look for them to cause a lot of mayhem to their opponents.
Predictions: Detroit will finish with a 9-7 record and 3rd in NFC North. They will compete till the last game for a wild-card spot, but will fall just short due to a tiebreaker situation. The improved season will be something to build on for the seasons to come and Bob Quinn will finally make the Detroit Lions a legitimate threat in the league.
MVP’s: The offensive MVP will be Marvin Jones, the defensive MVP will be Darius Slay
