A 15-win season is very hard to duplicate. Of the eight previous teams to win 15 games in the regular season, only one, the 1986 Chicago Bears, won more than 11 games. The Kansas City Chiefs also won 15 games last season, so they are not included among this group just yet.
The good news is that all but one of the aforementioned teams won at least 10 games — the 2016 Carolina Panthers went through disaster following their Super Bowl 50 appearance en route to a 6-10 record.
The point of all this is that regression is possible for the 2025 Detroit Lions and that’s the common theme from coaches and executives surveyed by The Athletic in their annual report before the season begins.
The Athletic surveyed 31 coaches and executives, asking various questions including their MVP pick, who the best offensive player will be and who the best playcaller in the league is (of which former Lions offensive coordinator and now Bears head coach Ben Johnson ranked third).
One of the questions was “Name three teams that will fall short of expectations this season.” By a pretty solid margin of seven votes, the Lions were voted as the team most likely to fall short of expectations, garnering 16 votes.
The main note revolved around the Lions losing both top coordinators during the offseason.
Despite those losses, one voter still believes the team will be just fine, saying, “They’ll still be good even with all the turnover. They still all have the same identity as the head coach. And they’ll continue to play good defense.”
As if the Lions needed any more bulletin board material, now they have this to hang on the wall as motivation.
This article originally appeared on Lions Wire: Lions voted by NFL coaches and execs as team most likely to fall short of expectations
Reporting by Billy Riccette, Lions Wire / Lions Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
