Lions Are "Dark Horse" to Win NFC North

Lions are "dark-horse" team to win NFC North, according to Bleacher Report

Vito Chirco | May 24, 2020

As far-fetched as it may sound after the Lions went 3-12-1 a season ago, they have been tabbed by one media outlet as a "dark-horse" team to win the NFC North division in 2020.

The media outlet: Bleacher Report, which gave the Lions the label in a piece written by Maurice Moton.

The Lions will undoubtedly need a few things to go right in order for the franchise to make the flip from worst to first.

First, the organization's longtime No. 1 quarterback Matthew Stafford will need to stay healthy for the duration of the season.

Second, offseason acquisitions Danny Shelton, Jamie Collins and Duron Harmon will need to help shore up a defense that was a flat-out weakness a year ago.

As Moton writes,

"Those additions on every level of the defense should fit in seamlessly to patch up a unit that ranked 26th in scoring and gave up the second-most yards in 2019.

Stafford looked impressive in his first year under offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell, which bodes well for the Lions if their starting signal-caller stays healthy.

With Chicago Bears quarterback Mitchell Trubisky's regression during the previous campaign, take Detroit as the team to knock off the Green Bay Packers atop the division and overcome the Minnesota Vikings' favorable odds (+170) to win it in 2020."

The Lions would clearly be one of the biggest surprise teams to win their respective division this upcoming season.

In 2019, the team -- led by a supposed "defensive guru" in head coach Matt Patricia -- was abysmal on defense all season long.

Additionally, it was just 3-4-1 with Stafford under center, and failed to win a game after Stafford went down with a back ailment that sidelined him for half the season.

So, if Patricia & Co. lead the Lions to a division crown in 2020, it would be a huge sign of the team overachieving. And it would go a long way toward securing Patricia's job in Motown for another year.

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Published May 24, 2020

VITO CHIRCO

Vito has covered the NFL and the Detroit Lions for the past five years. Has extensive reporting history of college athletics, the Detroit Tigers and Detroit Mercy Athletics. Chirco's work include NFL columns, analyzing potential Detroit Lions prospects coming out of college, NFL draft coverage and analysis of events occurring in the NFL. Extensive broadcasting experience including hosting a Detroit Tigers podcast and co-hosting a Detroit Lions NFL podcast since 2019.