SEASON PREDICTION 

Detroit is looking to bounce back after a disappointing 2025 campaign in which they finished last in the division, while the year prior they held a 15-2 record and the #1 seed in the NFC. The biggest issue Detroit suffered last year was their offensive dip in efficiency with the departure of Ben Johnson to Chicago. They struggled to find a replacement OC and halfway through the year Dan Campbell took over the playcalling. The hope for this year is that the offensive line can stay healthy, and their new OC Drew Petzing can return this offense back to 2024 form.  

Regarding Detroit's defense, it has always played second fiddle to this star studded offense, but we saw last year how important it is to have a strong unit when the offense isn't clicking on all cylinders. The Lions suffered a multitude of injuries last year which severely hindered Kelvin Sheppard's ability to strategize a defensive game plan. Both their starting safety's, Kirby Joseph and Brian Branch miss significant time dealing with injuries, and on the front line Levi Onwuzurike was sidelined the entire year with a torn ACL. On top of that one of their biggest offseason adds, DJ Reed had a hamstring strain that sidelined him for a third of the season. This left their secondary bare and unsurprisingly led to a lot of big plays over the top. This year the starting 11 is set to be completely healthy, which will give Sheppard an opportunity to unleash his play calling ability.  

Switching back to the offense, the big story surrounding Detroit is how this unit will respond to their disappointing 2025 campaign. The biggest move of the offseason coaching wise was to hire Drew Petzing as the OC to call plays and relive Campbell of the duty. I like the Petzing hire despite the fact that the Cardinals have been one of the worst teams in the NFL for 3 years in a row. Petzing knew how to scheme up plays for his star players such as Trey McBride, Michael Wilson, and MHJ, (even if he dropped all his targets). Swapping on over to a team like Detroit where stars such as Gibbs, St. Brown, and Laporta will allow him to expand his repertoire that he built in Arizona. As for personnel change, the biggest loss was David Montgomery to the Texans, which effectively ended the Sonic and Knuckles Duo. Most people expect Gibbs to simply become a workhorse back and continue his production from previous years, but I'm not so certain that this will be the case. One reason I believe this is that they're big offensive line investment this offseason, center Cade Mays suffered an injury and his timetable for return is uncertain. This leaves a gap in the center hole and on the right side of the line they'll be hoping that their rookie right tackle can slide into a starter spot and adjust to the NFL game without any problems. Ergo Gibbs will likely have to run behind a mediocre online for the duration of the season, and all those hits he's going to take are going to take a toll on his body and limit his explosiveness. Detroit tried to get a backup to alleviate the pressure off of Gibbs, but Pacheco is dust, and I don't expect any significant production to come for him. Losing the running back duo that broke records and set history is a major blow to the team's identity. Luckily, they're receiving game is still efficient. They have a top five receiver in Amon Ra and the streaky wideout Jameson Williams to help their pocket passing QB. Goff has shown me over the years that if given a clean pocket and time he can be one of the best QBs, but if he gets blitzed, he crumbles quickly. With this O-line expected to be weak, it's going to put a lot of pressure on Goff and led to some uncomfortable scenarios including potentially scrambling out of the pocket to buy more time.  

All together I think Detroit will have a similar season to 2025. I believe the defense will be league average due to returning most of their injured starters from last year. Regarding the offense, I expect a bit of a dip in Gibbs productiveness and Goff to struggle as he deals with pressure throughout the year. Thus, leading to my 9-8 prediction for Detroit. However, if any of their players exceed my expectations, they could very easily win the division considering they have the easiest SOS.