The Detroit Lions will win the NFC North this year, and there is no doubt about it.
In regards to past years, the Lions have been one of the only teams in the NFL to truly struggle to move forward and rebuild the franchise I know and love—yet this year is different. The new coaching staff in Detroit is striving to build a new culture that the city and team have never seen before.
To add on, Dan Campell is in the works of turning this team into something bright. Despite this, the Lions have been in a drought of not being able to clinch the north for three decades. Last year we saw something the team had never done before, they had the run of the century. The Lions showed grit and fight during their run, in which they narrowly missed the playoffs. In Detroit’s final ten games of the season, they provided eight wins out of ten games, improving from a 1-6 record all the way to a 9-8 record. To continue, almost all of the teams they played during this time were not easy to push by. This streak let the world witness the true beginnings of something special happening within Detroit, and why they are going to win the division this year.
Not only does the team’s courage to improve come into play, but Campell’s rebuilding of the franchise is also in play. This year the Lions have a top five offense in the league being run by Ben Johnson and led by Jared Goff, they added a new running back in Jahmyr Gibbs to give a jolt into the offense this year, which provides more depth into the passing game in the backfield. On the flip side, the Lion’s defense also jumped forward in progress from last year, when they were ranked last in all defenses. This year Campell took notice to add important pieces into the secondary by signing CJ Gardner-Johnson to fill the safety position where he led the league in takeaways last season. They also signed Emmanuel Moseley from Pittsburgh to take on the slot one position for Detroit, but they didn’t stop there. In this year’s draft they picked up another cornerback, Brian Branch who was one of the best corners in all of college football last year. He provided four interceptions and 172 tackles last year in Nick Saban’s defense as a starter. I know from these stats he is going to help this team succeed in winning.
Lastly, I took a look into the other teams found within the north. All you can see is a decline. Green Bay, the long-lasting champs of the north took a hit to the gut this year by losing hall-of-fame athlete Aaron Rodgers and starting Jordan Love who has sat behind Rodgers for four years barely seeing the field. They also lost superstar wide receiver Davante Adams in 2022. Not only Green Bay, but Chicago has always been near the bottom and hasn’t seen that much growth. Minnesota on the other hand, will still be a solid team that wants to contend with Detroit for the upcoming season. Minnesota this off-season didn’t necessarily add too many big pieces to their team from last season, and the Lions proved victorious against them then.
Detroit is going to be wildly successful this year, and I am excited to see what else there is to come as the team grows.
