3 Reasons Why Lions Will Win NFC North in 2020

Lions may not be as far away from winning the division as many think

BetOnline has recently set the over-under win total for the Detroit Lions next season. 

In Matt Patricia's third season, optimism should be reigning supreme. 

Well -- not so fast.

The win total was set at only 6.5 total victories for the season -- the worst total in the division. 

Green Bay and Minnesota's was set at 9.5, while Chicago's was set at 8 victories. 

Only Cincinnati, Washington and Miami have lower expectations. Those organizations over-under win total were all set at 5.5 victories. 

While nobody can blame analysts and media outside of Detroit for being highly skeptical, there is still room to be optimistic for next season.

Here are three reasons why Detroit can overcome the odds and actually win the division next season. 

Lions salary cap situation is better than the rest of the division

Based on Detroit's resources available and their position in this year's draft, the organization is poised to take advantage of the other teams in the division. 

Detroit has roughly $48.4 million in cap space to spend on free agents. 

The rest of the teams in the division do not have as much cap space as the Lions. 

The Vikings have exhausted their cap space at the moment. Chicago has the fifth-fewest amount of cap space in the NFL and possess no first-round pick in the draft. Green Bay is below average in terms of cap space and draft capital.

Each team's 2020 offseason resources.

X-axis = Draft Pick Value

Y-axis = Effective Cap Space pic.twitter.com/MDDrlcPhve

— Lee Sharpe (@LeeSharpeNFL) January 30, 2020

Matthew Stafford returns and evolves further working with Darrell Bevell

ESPN’s writer Jeremy Fowler believes Stafford will be the MVP of the 2020 NFL season. 

Fowler writes, “Mahomes is still the game’s best player, but Stafford was playing really good football before his midseason back issues. If he leads Detroit to contention, which isn’t so farfetched considering the talent around him, he’ll be in the MVP mix because he puts up numbers and the NFC North is as open as Kenny Golladay."

Another season working with Bevell should see Stafford produce at a level similar to or even exceeding last season. 

The defense will be much improved in 2020

The defense isn't likely to perform at the level of the San Francisco 49ers, but Detroit's defense cannot play as bad they did last season. 

With talented defensive players surely being added via free agency and the draft, Detroit is hoping to turn it around in 2020. 

Recall, Detroit competed against many of the teams on their schedule.

The organization is banking on the team taking the next step -- meaning that the players actually execute in crunch time and a few more breaks fall their way.

Their will be a new defensive staff that will work with Patricia to increase the aggressiveness and play complimentary football devoid of costly mistakes and ill-timed penalties. 

The goal is to finish games -- plain and simple. Look for the Lions to come out on the positive end of close games next season.

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