Getty Fox Sports personality Colin Cowherd during a 2016 event.
Often times, Colin Cowherd could not be counted as a personality that would give the Detroit Lions the benefit of the doubt, but heading into 2022, it seems he’s come around a bit.
Cowherd, like many analysts, watched the first episode of Hard Knocks, and took time out to think about what the Lions could offer as a team this season. As he said
Speaking during a segment on The Herd, Cowherd took a closer look at the Lions and their 2022 schedule. As he said, the Lions could be a nine win team if things go right. The big reason? The team’s schedule contains games against shaky quarterback situations for the opposition.
“Detroit, when you look at their schedule, they may be the only team in this league I could talk myself into them winning nine games or four. They get a real break with their schedule. Seven games on their schedule, they face a team with a fairly shaky quarterback situation where Jared Goff will get better production and be a better quarterback than who they face,” he said. “Washington, Seattle, Chicago, the Giants, the Jets, Carolina, Chicago. Those are young quarterbacks or Carson Wentz, mistake prone quarterbacks. They also face two talented quarterbacks both at home and both young in Jalen Hurts and Trevor Lawrence, so they’re gonna have a quarterback either experience edge, home field edge or consistency edge in nine games. That’s 60% of your schedule. Could they go eight and one in those games? Absolutely. They were very, very competitive last year against good teams.”
As Cowherd reminded, the Lions problems in 2021 were more related to some of their roster shortcomings. If those were turned around, the Lions could be way better than they were last season.
“Often, they just didn’t have any depth and they were terrible defensively. They didn’t have a pass rush. They were bad on the back end. Nobody gave up more late touchdowns it felt like than Detroit,” Cowherd said. “They are a very unique team and then you start looking at this schedule, if they stayed healthy with their offensive pieces, you could see them win nine games. I don’t. I see them (winning) like six or seven, but I think the emotional stuff makes them easy to root for.”
At the very least, it seems like the Lions are on the rise, and Cowherd’s prediction for around seven wins feels sensible. As he explained, though, the chance for more does exist if things go right.
Cowherd: Close Games, Roster Change Helps Lions
As Cowherd hinted, the fact that the Lions were in a lot of close games last year could play to their advantage this season.
That’s especially true in his mind given the fact that the close games were against good teams, indicating the Lions are competitive and perhaps closer than some might think to breaking through.
He also conceded the team’s roster needed another offseason of improvements, something many think happened this past year.
“A lot (of close games) against good teams. The Rams game was tight, the Ravens game was tight. It just felt like they needed a little more,” he said. “A little more polish, a little more experience, a little more situational (stuff), but they were right there so I don’t really feel like that’s very far off. You know what they needed? They needed another draft. They needed four starters out of the draft and three starters (from) free agency, build on something.”
Whether what the team did this offseason was enough to cure the roster ills remains to be seen, but at the very least, the Lions could have a chance at a much brighter future if they develop.
What Ideal 2022 Season Looks Like for Lions
If the Lions are able to double or even triple their win total from 2021, that would have to be seen as a huge win for the franchise at this stage of their rebuild.
The team has struggled to win games in the last few years, and the fact that the Lions scratched out a 3-13-1 record in a lost season is notable for 2022.
This year, as Cowherd seems to agree, it feels as if the Lions could grab seven or eight wins, which could leave them in playoff contention. That would be a big turnaround based on what the recent past has looked like, and could leave the Lions in good shape smack dab in the middle of their rebuild.
As Cowherd knows, often times, a schedule can be the biggest reason for a team’s success or failure. Detroit’s may offer them a road map to some better results in 2022.
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