Every year a handful of teams get screwed with an early bye week - the Lions are one of those teams this year. Their Week 5 bye comes before two winnable road games which makes it nice timing for preparation, but it’s hard for teams to keep up that week-to-week energy after that early bye. Lions fans are hoping Matthew Stafford can stay healthy for the entire season, and if he can Detroit has the all-around talent to take advantage of the 2nd-easiest schedule in terms of expected opponent win totals. That early bye week aside, their tougher matchups against the Saints, Colts, Texans, and Buccaneers all come at home, which bodes well for their ability to steal a few of those games. The NFC North has become a division home to defensive juggernauts in recent years, but the Lions were derailed by injuries last year which clouded the public perception of their actual talent. With their completely remade secondary and D’Andre Swift joining a Stafford, Kenny Golladay, and T.J. Hockenson offense, the Lions are my dark horse division-winning team.
