ESPN writer makes win total prediction for the Detroit Lions

ESPN’s NFC North beat writers are out with some offseason sentiment for their teams, so how many wins are the Detroit Lions predicted to have?

The ESPN.com beat writers for each team in the NFC North have offered their offseason sentiment on the teams they cover. The Detroit Lions still have plenty of concerns as the draft approaches, but overall there’s real optimism around the team for the first time in a while.

Lions’ ESPN beat writer Eric Woodyard outlined the team’s best offseason move (signing DJ Chark), an area of concern (wide receiver, with a hat tip to the secondary too), who makes sense with the No. 2 overall pick (Aidan Hutchinson or Kayvon Thibodeaux) and how the Lions win the division next season.

"The Lions win the division if: Well, they’re probably not going to win the division. The Bengals went from worst to first last season, but they have a franchise quarterback and superstar wide receiver, among other elite players. The Lions don’t appear ready to make that jump. They would need to have a perfect draft, Goff has to play the best ball of his career and the stars would have to align."

Detroit Lions have a win total prediction out there now

The Lions went 3-13-1 last season, with some close losses highlighted by three game-winning, or game-losing for them, field goals on the final play. So it’s not out of the question, with some upgrades to the talent in place or coming, for them to double that win total in 2022.

For the “way-too-early bold prediction” segment to wrap up, the writers could of course go any direction they wanted. Woodyard went with predicting the Lions’ win total in 2022.

"Way-too-early bold prediction: Detroit will win seven games. The Lions haven’t had a winning record since 2017 and won three games last season, but they lost a few close ones and played hard until the final game. If they add a few more pieces and catch some breaks, they can double that win total."

Any notion the Lions could “catch some breaks” is foreign to long-suffering fans. But they had a tie last year, with two losses that could’ve been wins if Tim Boyle was an NFL-caliber quarterback starting in place of Jared Goff.

So the idea of six wins in 2022 is not a reach, and Woodyard tacked one on to get to a prediction of seven wins. What do you think Lions’ fans and followers? Seven wins in 2022? Over? Under?