Optimism in the Lions seems to grow by the day. Coming off a surge at the end of last season and having added several key players in free agency, the goal for the Lions this year is clear: win the NFC North. They're already listed as favorites.
"To take the next step, man, you’re shooting for the division," Dan Campbell said Tuesday at the NFL owners meetings. "Because you do that, you win the division, you get a home (playoff) game, the rest takes care of itself. That’s the next part of the process.
"Every team should want to go to the Super Bowl, every year. I said that two years ago, of course. But I think we are positioned much better to swing with the big boys this year. Now, I can’t tell you what that means in win totals, but it means that that is the goal, man: we gotta go get this division."
Vegas can tell you what it means in win totals. Per SportsBetting.ag, which released league-wide over/under projections on Wednesday, the Lions have their highest projected win total since 2015: 9.5. (Of course, things didn't end so well that year. The Lions fell from 11-5 to 7-9. But we digress.)
That's the number to beat in the NFC North, leading the Vikings (8.5), Bears (7.5) and Packers (7). That's Green Bay's lowest projected total since 2005. Losing a Hall of Fame quarterback will have that effect.
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The Lions are also tied with the Cowboys and Saints for the third-highest total in the NFC, trailing only the Eagles (10.5) and the 49ers (11). It's quite the leap from last year, when the Lions had a projected win total of 6. Their 3.5-win jump is the third biggest in the NFL after the Jets and Jaguars, both plus-4.
The Lions started last season 1-6, but closed 8-2. Campbell said once they found their rhythm, "the belief in what we were doing was at an all-time high."
"It would be hard to lose that," Campbell said. "When you get the right type of guys who have been put through the pressure our guys have and have come from where they’ve come from, man, you appreciate it a lot more. On top of that, you keep stacking a little talent, you keep upgrading, you keep bringing in reinforcements.
"The foundation is here and then when you bring in guys that are likeminded and about winning and can play some ball and help you in some areas, I think it’s hard to fail."
The Chiefs and Bengals are tied for the highest projected win total (11.5) this season, with the Cardinals and Texans (5.5) bringing up the rear.
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