Getty A Packers fan celebrates beating the Lions at Ford Field.
The Detroit Lions haven’t won their division in decades, and the oddsmakers don’t exactly see that fact changing during the 2020 NFL season.
Recently, CBS SportsLine simulated the NFC North race 10,000 times. What they found is the Lions only came up as division winners 9.6% of the time. Perhaps. The overwhelming favorites to take home the crown were the Minnesota Vikings at 48.3%. Perhaps surprisingly, the Chicago Bears (21.9%) and the Green Bay Packers (20.3%) share nearly identical long shot odds of taking home the division.
Our model simulated the NFL season 10,000 times. Here is who won the NFC North most often:
Vikings 48.3%
Bears 21.9%
Packers 20.3%
Lions 9.6%
Obviously, it’s not a shock to see the Lions as long shots for the division no matter what metric is used. They’ve not won the NFC North, and their last division title came in 1993 when they won the then NFC Central. The last time the team was close was 2016, when Detroit fell apart on the last day and ended up losing to the Packers at home.
The Lions could be a dark horse team to remember, even though they aren’t generating much love at all from the oddsmakers at this point in time.
Lions Seeking First Playoff Win Since 1990s
It’s not simply the NFC North the Lions can’t win, but playoff games too. The Lions don’t make playoff success a habit, but strangely enough, they don’t have the longest current drought in the league in terms of a playoff win. That belongs to the Cincinnati Bengals, who haven’t won a playoff game since 1990. The Lions last playoff win came in 1991 against the Dallas Cowboys at home.
Longest draught since a team’s last playoff win:
1. Bengals: 1990 Wild Card
2. Lions: 1991 Divisional
3. Browns: 1994 Wild Card
4. Bills: 1995 Wild Card
An opportunity for the Bills to take another step forward today.
Obviously, the Buffalo Bills are one of the next teams on the list, and in terms of this group, they are the squad that looks like they can break through and do the biggest amounts of winning in the future.
Detroit still has a ways to go, but the good news is, they don’t have the worst drought at the very least. Their divisional drought is still tough to note.
Lions Playoff History
The Lions have been one of the more miserable teams historically when it comes to the playoffs. Detroit hasn’t won
a postseason game since 1991. It’s not just 1991, however. Prior to that win, the Lions hadn’t won a playoff game since 1957. They had lost three times combined in the 1970s and 1980s. They’ve had plenty of misfortune in the playoffs as well, losing games in heartbreaking fashion and blowout fashion as well.
Detroit last appeared in the playoffs in 2018, but quickly bowed out, losing to the Seattle Seahawks in close fashion. They haven’t been consistent enough through the years at both making the playoffs and also winning when they do manage to get there.
With Matt Patricia in the fold, the goal is to get to be a team that not only makes the playoffs consistently, but is able to deliver big wins when they get there. This year, just getting there would be a huge first step considering the odds of them sniffing a division title seem to remain slim.
As usual, it will be left to the play on the field to determine what happens with that in the end.
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Lions Revealed to Have Miserable Odds of Winning NFC North