NFL executive hides behind curtain of anonymity to offer lame Lions prediction

There are plenty of positive predictions about the Detroit Lions this season, all the way up to them winning the Super Bowl. There are some stray pessimists, as there always are, but most of the "worst case scenarios" have the Lions winning like 10 games this season and making the playoffs.

Mike Sando of The Athletic does good work surveying NFL people on various topics. But in return for unvarnished opinions and direct quotes, he has to protect the identities of the people he talks to. Good or bad, it just is what it is.

Sando recently released the results of his polling of five NFL executives as they ranked NFC teams (subscription required). That isn't a robust sample of NFL executives, but two of them ranked the Lions second, one ranked them first and another ranked them fifth.

Then, there was one executive who ranked the Lions ninth in the conference. The Falcons, Bears, Commanders and Seahawks are among the teams this executive ranked higher.

NFL exec hides behind veil of anonymity with lame Lions' prediction

That executive thinks no team's offense has been studied over the past two years like the Lions' offense has, so defenses will be better prepared.

"They treat third down like second down, and that was something that became very public as they went deeper,” this exec said. “Teams are going to pick up on that, and they play a tougher schedule, and there’s more (pressure) on them and we’ll see what it looks like.”

This executive underestimates Lions' offensive coordinator Ben Johnson's ability to adjust and innovate. They also seem to fail to realize the hype the Lions entered last season with, before they went out and won 12 games, the NFC North and two playoff games. So any pressure on the team this year, even if it can be said it's a little bit heightened after falling just short of the Super Bowl, is not new.

There will never be names put on these kind of lame, ridiculous opinions in a large publication, since anonymity is typically exchanged for complete access and the ability to fully quote. But sometimes we wish names were named, and this prediction the Lions will finish in the bottom half of the NFC this year is a fresh addition to the list.