National Football League

Could Detroit Lions make playoffs in 2022?

Published Aug. 10, 2022 4:28 p.m. ET

Can the Detroit Lions, the focus of HBO's "Hard Knocks," contend for the NFC playoffs in 2022?

Detroit is coming off a 3-13-1 season, good for last in the NFC North. Six of its 13 losses were one-score games. Head coach Dan Campbell is entering his second season as head coach.

Meanwhile, quarterback Jared Goff is entering his second season under center for Detroit. He finished last season with 3,245 passing yards, 19 passing touchdowns, eight interceptions and a 91.5 quarterback rating, completing 67.2% of his passes.

Colin Cowherd, host of "The Herd," could see the Lions in the playoff hunt next season, arguing that they have a favorable schedule in terms of the quarterbacks they'll face.

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"Detroit, when you look at their schedule, they may be the only team in this league I can talk myself into them winning nine games or four," Cowherd said. "They get a real break with their schedule. Seven games on their schedule they face a team with a fairly shaky quarterback situation where Jared Goff will get better protection and be a better quarterback than who they face: Washington, Seattle, Chicago, the Giants, the Jets, Carolina. Those are young quarterbacks or Carson Wentz.

"They also face two talented quarterbacks both at home and both young: Jalen Hurts and Trevor Lawrence. They're going to have either [an] experience edge, [a] home field edge or [a] consistency edge in nine games, so that's 60% of your schedule. Could they go 8-1 in those games? Absolutely."

Running back D'Andre Swift, tight end T.J. Hockenson and rookie wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown were among Detroit's offensive catalysts in 2021. Splitting reps with veteran running back Jamaal Williams, Swift totaled a combined 1,069 yards across 13 games. Hockenson totaled 583 receiving yards across 12 games. St. Brown had a team-high 90 receptions, 912 receiving yards and five receiving touchdowns.

The Lions selected Michigan defensive lineman Aidan Hutchinson with the No. 2 pick in the 2022 NFL Draft and traded up to No. 12 to select Alabama wide receiver Jameson Williams. They later selected Kentucky defensive lineman Josh Paschal with the No. 46 pick.

Cowherd sees the Lions winning six to seven games but having the upside to win more if their offense stays healthy.

"They were very, very competitive last year against good teams often," Cowherd said. "They just didn't have any depth, and they were terrible defensively. They didn't have a pass rush, they were bad on the back end, nobody gave up more late touchdowns it felt like than Detroit.

"They are a very unique team in that you start looking at this schedule, and if they stayed healthy with their offensive pieces, you could see them winning 9 games. I don't. I see them winning like six to seven, but I think the emotional stuff makes them easy to root for."