5 NFL teams poised to double last year’s win totals in 2020

Had quarterback Matthew Stafford not gotten hurt mid-season, no doubt the Detroit Lions would have been better than a 3-12-1 team. After a surprisingly strong start, Detroit lost 12 of its final 13 games. Though it’s not an overly difficult bar to climb, will the Lions improve from their win total last season, let’s call it 3.5 wins, and get to the most coveted Jeff Fisher 7-9 B.S.?

The Lions inherit a fourth-place schedule, so they’d have to at least split games between the Arizona Cardinals and the Washington Redskins, maybe win both if they do worse than 2-4 in the NFC North. If the Lions split with the Chicago Bears and the Minnesota Vikings, but get swept by the Green Bay Packers, they can come out of this half of the schedule with three or four wins.

At either 4-4 or 3-5, the Lions would only need two or three more wins over AFC South and NFC South teams. Fortunately for Matt Patricia’s team, there are a lot of potential wins here. The Tennessee Titans in Nashville will be hard, but the Lions could win on the road vs. the Jacksonville Jaguars and possibly hold their own at home vs. the Houston Texans and the Indianapolis Colts.

As for the NFC South slate, the Lions don’t get a break here. The two easiest teams to beat in the division will be on the road at the Atlanta Falcons and at the Carolina Panthers. Even if they get the New Orleans Saints and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Ford Field, those are two of the top-10 teams in the league. Regardless, Detroit has the talent to win about six or seven games next year.