After a 6-2 finish to their 2022 season and an offseason that saw them improve the weakest parts of their roster, the Detroit Lions are entering the 2023 season as the favorites to win the NFC North. Given the general doubts surrounding the Bears and Vikings, as well as the Packers’ transition to Jordan Love at quarterback, the Lions being hailed as favorites seems justifiable, right? Not so fast.
We all know what the Lions have been for a majority of their history- a losing franchise in a seemingly never-ending rebuild. Their ownership, headed by Sheila Ford Hamp, has not done them any favors. This is a franchise that has not won a title since 1957, a playoff game since 1991, and a division title since 1993. To put that last stat into perspective- the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, now members of the NFC South, have won the NFC North more recently than the Lions.
There is a comp for this Lions team that may seem silly on the surface, but it’s actually very reasonable once you do some deeper digging- the 2019 Cleveland Browns.
How the 2023 Lions compare to the 2019 Browns
The first and obvious comparison is this- both franchises are among the league’s more dysfunctional and have been stuck in rebuilds. Despite the fact that both teams have not won their division since the early 1990s, a strong finish to the previous season and subsequent flashy offseason acquisitions led to them being preseason division favorites. While the Lions signed cornerback Cameron Sutton, safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson, and running back David Montgomery, the Browns traded for wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. in addition to signing running back Kareem Hunt and defensive lineman Sheldon Richardson.
Both teams have a boatload of playmakers on offense. While the Lions have the likes of Amon-Ra St. Brown, Jameson Williams, David Montgomery, and rookie Jahmyr Gibbs, the Browns had the likes of Nick Chubb, Kareem Hunt, Jarvis Landry, OBJ, and David Njoku. Oh, and both teams had a playmaker serving a suspension to start the year. While the Lions will be without Williams for the first six games of the season, Hunt served an eight-game suspension to start his Browns tenure.
The Lions and Browns also have quarterbacks who had strong finishes to their prior seasons, but the general public still has their doubts about them. Baker Mayfield of the Browns had a strong finish to his rookie season, but there were still general doubts surrounding him due to his lack of mobility and general brashness. Similarly, Jared Goff of the Lions had a strong finish to his 2022 season, but his lack of mobility and occasionally high turnover rates casts some doubts around him. I know Goff is a solid quarterback, but there’s a reason that the Rams won a Super Bowl the year after moving off of him.
The respective divisions of both teams faced varying levels of uncertainty heading into the season. The most historically successful teams of the division, the Steelers and Packers, were in a transition year after moving off high-end talent such as Antonio Brown, Le’Veon Bell, and Aaron Rodgers. Similarly, fellow division rivals boast quarterbacks in the Ravens’ Lamar Jackson and Bears’ Justin Fields who are hyper athletic but there are general doubts regarding their throwing abilities.
However, there is one key difference in these teams and it’s a significant one- coaching. While it became more obvious throughout the season that Freddie Kitchens was in over his head as the head coach, Dan Campbell has established a culture within the Lions organization and that really showed at the end of 2022.
How the Browns and the rest of the AFC North did in 2019
The tone for the Browns’ season was set in Week 1 when they suffered a 43-13 drubbing at the hands of the Tennessee Titans. What followed was a disappointing 6-10 record that saw them finish third in the AFC North, and led to the firing of both Kitchens and GM John Dorsey at season’s end. Mayfield suffered significant regression, and the big three offseason acquisitions in Beckham, Hunt, and Richardson significantly underperformed.
The Ravens, meanwhile, recorded an AFC-best 14-2 record on the year, highlighted by the emergence of Jackson as he won MVP honors while leading the league’s best rushing offense of the season. Despite losing Ben Roethlisberger to a season-ending elbow injury early in the year, the Steelers finished with an 8-8 record. As for the Cincinnati Bengals, their league-worst 2-14 record was enough to win the Joe Burrow Sweepstakes.
Could the Lions do worse than anticipated due to their division?
No one is talking about this, but there is a legitimate chance that the Lions could disappoint fans this year because of what’s happening in the NFC North. While many are discounting the Vikings, Bears, and Packers for this upcoming season, I’m here to tell you not so fast.
While the Vikings are unlikely to win 13 games again in 2023, they still field a quality offensive roster and should improve defensively with the hiring of Brian Flores as defensive coordinator. While the team did lose several high-priced veterans that were no longer worth their contracts, the roster is getting younger on both ends and should improve over the course of time.
I could see the Bears having a 2019 Ravens-type of year in 2023. These Bears, like that Ravens team, run the same type of offense- a rush-heavy attack highlighted by a hyper-athletic quarterback. Like those Ravens, the Bears also field quality defensive players. I’m not saying the Bears will win 14 games, but a division crown shouldn’t be out of the question.
While the Packers are in a transition period, they still have three essential things you need in today’s NFL- good young pieces on offense, a quality defense, and an offensive head coach. This season will be about Jordan Love, but he has the right support around him and is in a good position to succeed. I could see these Packers being the 2023 version of last year’s Seattle Seahawks- a team with good offensive pieces and a question mark at quarterback that went on to make the playoffs as a wild card.
The point of this article is this- be careful hyping up a dysfunctional franchise that has not done anything over a significant period of time. We made this mistake with the Browns in 2019 and we could be making it with the Lions. There’s a clear-cut reason the Packers and Vikings have mostly dominated the division since the formation of it- those organizations are both well-run and know what they are doing, unlike the Lions and, for periods, the Bears. Let’s be careful hyping up the Lions this year, as they could be a massive disappointment this year.
