Peter King Predicts Lions Will Make the Playoffs in 2020
The Detroit Lions have not secured a playoff berth since the 2016 season.
Heading into head coach Matt Patricia's third season, Detroit is facing lofty expectations, not only from fans, but from ownership who have clearly mandated the team perform better than they did last season.
"We expect to be a playoff contender (in 2020), and those are our expectations, which we’ve expressed to both Bob and to Matt," then-owner Martha Ford said to a small group of reporters at the end of last season.
At her introductory Zoom press conference, new principal owner Sheila Ford Hamp provided more detail regarding the "win-now" mandate established by upper management.
"I don't want to say anything about wins and losses. We want to see major improvement," Ford Hamp said. "I can't really say what those specific measures are going to be. I don't know what the season is going be like yet. Believe me, major improvement is the goal."
In his latest Football Morning in America column, Football Morning in America, Peter King has the Lions among the seven teams making the playoffs in the NFC.
King writes:
"Detroit was averaging 391 yards per game on offense at midseason, top five in the league, when Matthew Stafford was lost for the year. Not sure of the ratio in the backfield now that Adrian Peterson is a Lion, but the run game will be good enough. The defense will have four ex-Pats starting, but the most important addition will be cornerback Jeff Okudah, who needs to be a day-one stopper with Aaron Rodgers, Kyler Murray and Drew Brees on the schedule in the first month."
Here is how King seeded the 2020 NFC playoff teams:
- 1.) Dallas
- 2.) New Orleans
- 3.) Seattle
- 4.) Minnesota
- 5.) San Francisco
- 6.) Tampa Bay
- 7.) Detroit
Detroit begins their season this Sunday at Ford Field, taking on the Chicago Bears.
For the first two home games this season, no fans will be present to watch the Lions in their pursuit of a playoff appearance.
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