Pride of Detroit
The Detroit Lions certainly hope their 2025 season goes better than 2024. While the record last year (15-2) will be difficult to improve upon or repeat, they’re hoping their roster doesn’t have much turnover due to injuries. Not only that, they want to improve from last year’s postseason finish. Despite being the top seed in the NFC, the Lions were upset by the Washington Commanders in the Divisional Round of the playoffs in 2024.
The defending back-to-back NFC North champions are again favorites to win the division, but that doesn’t mean it’s automatic. The Green Bay Packers are behind them in odds, and with more weapons on their offense, they could surprise people. The Minnesota Vikings are in third, despite having a new starting quarterback in J.J. McCarthy. The Chicago Bears are the long shot this year. Even with former Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson now taking over, they have an uphill climb.
The preseason is still young with just two games under wraps, so season predictions aren’t common this early in August. That doesn’t stop the video game Madden NFL 26 from working, though! Last year, the prediction did have the Lions going back to the NFC title game, losing to the Philadelphia Eagles, who they had losing to the Kansas City Chiefs in the Super Bowl. So while Madden correctly picked the title game matchup, it missed the winner. Can the simulation get it right this year?
Before reading the prediction, here is how I laid out this Lions franchise:
Get your guesses in now, the season is about to start!
The Lions disappointingly began the year losing to the Green Bay Packers. They rebounded by giving Johnson the feeling of what it’s like to go up against this high-powered offense to improve to 1-1. In a nice early-season surprise, the Lions defeated the Baltimore Ravens before beating the Cleveland Browns and improving to 3-1. The streak came to a halt, though, as the Lions lost to the Cincinnati Bengals. The good news is the Lions’ streak of not losing two games in a row continued, as they not just rebounded and won, they demolished the Kansas City Chiefs 40-17.
Before going into the bye week on “Monday Night Football,” they defeated the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. A record of 5-2 before the bye week is not what I expected and Lions fans would be very happy with those results. After the Lions returned from the bye week, they came out hot in a 27-point smack down in their first game against the Minnesota Vikings.
They then got their revenge against the Washington Commanders on the road. Finally, in Week 11, in a matchup many wanted to see in the NFC Championship game last year, the Lions went into Philadelphia and defeated the...
