Detroit Lions, Matthew Stafford, #9 (Photo by Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images)
An injury to Matthew Stafford doomed the Detroit Lions last season, but better health could make Detroit a more dangerous team in 2020.
A 3-12-1 record indicates that 2019 was a bad year for the Detroit Lions, but a dive beneath the surface shows that things are much more complicated. The Lions were actually 2-2-1 after their first five games and had a legitimate shot at a 5-0 record if a few bounces of the football went their way.
The killer blow in 2019 was a back injury for quarterback Matthew Stafford, knocking him out of the final eight games of the season. The Lions lost all eight games Stafford missed, so there is a reasonable expectation that Detroit would have fared better if their quarterback was healthy for the entire year.
2020 could be a make-or-break year for Lions’ head coach Matt Patricia, who is 9-22-1 over his first two seasons in Detroit. Patricia will need to deliver some results in a tough NFC North to ensure he gets a fourth year as the Lions’ head coach, and he has spent a lot of his offseason rebuilding his defense.
The Lions continued to bring in former Patriots, adding Danny Shelton and Jamie Collins to continue reinforcing Patricia’s defensive scheme. The secondary was also overhauled with Darius Slay shipped to Philadelphia, Desmond Trufant signed in free agency and Jeff Okudah taken with the third overall pick in the draft.
The Lions will have a last-place schedule in 2020, but they still have their fair share of challenging games. Matchups with the Green Bay Packers, Minnesota Vikings, Chicago Bears, New Orleans Saints, Tennessee Titans, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Indianapolis Colts could present some difficulty for a team that needs to win to save its coach’s job.
Once the full 2020 NFL schedule is released this post will be updated immediately with game dates, times and broadcast information. In the meantime, let’s take a look at the home and road opponents for the Lions in 2020.
Home
- Chicago Bears
- Green Bay Packers
- Minnesota Vikings
- New Orleans Saints
- Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- Houston Texans
- Indianapolis Colts
- Washington Redskins
Away
- Chicago Bears
- Green Bay Packers
- Minnesota Vikings
- Atlanta Falcons
- Carolina Panthers
- Jacksonville Jaguars
- Tennessee Titans
- Arizona Cardinals