Because the NFL season is still far off in the distance (the Super Bowl champs kick things off Sep. 6, if you didn't know), any piece of pro football news captures the media's minds this time of year. Case in point: Jon Kitna going on the radio and predicting the Lions will win 10 games in 2007. It's not uncommon for a team's leader to express undying faith in his troops, and the Lions did just draft perhaps the most physically impressive wide receiver ever to enter the NFL. But the Lions haven't won 10 games since 1995, when Barry Sanders was regularly running into eight defenders stacked against him, yet somehow still ripping off 100-yard games.
We don't begrudge Kitna. He has reason for optimism. Calvin Johnson, NFC defenses willing, should have one of the more impressive rookie seasons in recent history. Roy Williams, Johnson's WR battery mate, caught 82 balls for more than 1,300 yards last season. Even Kitna, the former Barcelona Dragon legend, threw for 4,200 yards and 21 TDs in 2006. And we haven't even mentioned the stable of running backs the Lions are stockpiling. Kevin Jones, Tatum Bell, T.J. Duckett, all who've carried the ball 197 times or more in a season.
Not to go all Coltspeak on you, but this reminds us of the 1999 Indianapolis team that stil holds the record for biggest single-season turnaround in NFL history, going from 3-13 to 13-3. That team added an impact rookie (Edgerrin James), relied on a running back who was also a viable weapon in the passing game (James, again), and benefitted from a talented QB who was in his second year in a complex offense (Peyton Manning).
Now, we're not saying that Calvin Johnson, Kevin Jones and Jon Kitna are going to duplicate the miraculous turnaround James and Manning helped trigger, but couldn't they fall somewhere in between? In the miserable NFC North, the Lions are a lock to lose one division game (at Chicago), but we don't see why they don't have a puncher's chance in the other seven. We'll say they go 4-4 in the division. Their non-division opponents in 2007 include the Raiders, the Bucs, the Cardinals, the Redskins and the Chiefs. We see them winning three of those games. They also play the Broncos, Chargers, Eagles and Cowboys. They beat the Cowboys last year. Why can't they upset a more talented team again?
What we're saying is that we think, in the crapstream that is the NFC, the Lions are an 8-8 team. So is Jon Kitna crazy for thinking he can lead them to 10 wins? Yes - but he's not as bonkers as you think.
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