SI Detroit Lions Power Ranking: Team Came Undone Quick

New Sports Illustrated power ranking lists Lions in bottom half of NFL.

Detroit Lions offensive tackle Taylor Decker (68) walks off the bus as the team arrive at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin | Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The Detroit Lions are attempting to retool their roster by getting younger and signing a plethora of players to short-term, affordable contracts.

Sports Illustrated recently released their post-free agency National Football League power rankings.

Detroit came in ranked No. 18, just behind the Green Bay Packers.

As writer Conor Orr explained, "I have not seen a team come undone from its peak as quickly as the 2024 Lions. But after changes at both coordinator spots and key free-agency departures, Detroit is desperately attempting to hang onto difficult-to-replicate tenants: a physical, game-altering offensive line and a fearless, take-on-anyone secondary. Isiah Pacheco is not an upgrade over David Montgomery, but former Panther Cade Mays is at least a serviceable stopgap at the center position." 

The Bears were considered the best team in the NFC North division, coming in ranked at No. 10.

"The Coby Bryant–Devin Bush one-two punch was a major victory for Dennis Allen and a Bears defense that was still struggling with an identity crisis in the post–Matt Eberflus era," writes Orr. "Bush has shed all of his early-career labels and turned into one of the more underrated front-seven weapons in the NFL: a lane-clogging linebacker who is an instant threat to deflect or intercept passes."

Green Bay was ranked No. 17. Last season, the Packers were able to defeat Detroit in the season-opener and again on Thanksgiving.

"Reuniting Jonathan Gannon with DT Javon Hargrave is one of the better pairings of new coordinators with familiar free agents, given that it stops the bleeding for Green Bay on two fronts: one, it adds some much-needed depth to the Packers’ defensive line, and two, it gives Gannon a leg up in replacing the talented Jeff Hafley. Do I think it’s enough right now for me to consider the Packers an NFC North favorite? No."

The Vikings were the team ranked worst in the division, coming in at No. 19. After taking a step back in 2025, the team made the decision to sign Kyler Murray, who had an unsuccessful stint with the Arizona Cardinals.

"Murray is no doubt an upgrade over McCarthy, and perhaps with elevated QB play and the Brian Flores standard on defense, we’re looking at a transformed roster," Orr writes. "But is that too generous an assumption?"

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