Ranking every Detroit Lions team from the last 25 years (20-16)
Part two of five, taking a look at every Detroit Lions season from the past 25 years and counting down from the worst to the best.
The theme from last week was the ‘Worst of the Worst’ when it comes to the last 25 seasons of Detroit Lions football. For this week’s portion of the countdown, the commonality among these chapters in franchise history is that these teams either vastly underachieved in relation to preseason expectations, or they were largely underwhelming and forgettable.
As a reminder, here are the four categories I’ve used to rank each season, each scored on a scale of 1-10 and adding up to 40 possible points:
Final W-L record– this one is easy to judge, the more wins from the season, the higher the score. Zero wins is obviously a zero, a .500 season is a five, and 13 or more wins would be worth ten (so there are no tens in this category).
Achievements– What did this team accomplish once the season is put into perspective among past teams? Post-season appearances and wins, along with championships of any kind, would yield the highest scores. Winning records, streaks, or broken curses would be mid-level. At the lowest end of things, dubious achievements are achievements too.
Star Power– Who were the biggest names and the best players on that team? What type of numbers did they put up. How close to their prime were they? How well did they complement each other on the field? Any individual awards? What was their reputation like league-wide?
Entertainment Value– From an entertainment perspective, the worst sin an NFL team can commit is to be both boring and bad. This category tracks how ‘watchable’ the Lions were, at both their best and worst moments, and factors in the excitement level from games, both wins and losses. It also leaves room for interesting storylines as well as on-field action.
My countdown continues here, starting with the #20 season on the list, a disappointing showing from the mid-2000s that yielded major changes at both the head coach and quarterback positions the following season. I give you the ‘underachieving and underwhelming’.