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Here we are, Lions fans, Week 7. This week the Lions play formidable bye week team. The good news is that the Lions are undefeated when playing against the bye week. So you have nothing to worry about.
Dumb jokes aside. Welcome to the bye week. The Lions are heading into the bye at 3-3, so, naturally, we’ve got to talk a little bit about the Lions’ history at 3-3.
3-3 seems like a record the Detroit Lions would have a ton of times in their history. Being at, or around, .500 seems like a Lions thing. But they’ve only been 3-3 12 times, and it’s been a really long time since the last time the Lions went 3-3. You’d have to go all the way back to October of 2016.
That’s right. The Lions were 3-3 at this time last year. They then went on to have a winning record. That’s no anomaly. Of the 12 times the Lions have gone into Week 7 with a 3-3- record, they’ve finished with a winning record half the time, including their last championship season in good old 1957.
Another random stat is that of the 12 times the Lions finished Week 6 at 3-3, they improved to 4-3 in the next game nine times.
The Lions have had a Week 7 bye six times in their history, the last time being back in 2010.
To the social media stuff!
What is the Lions' all time record after the Bye Week?
— Dan Staifer (@staifer) October 19, 2017
This is not going to be good. The Lions are 111-172 in all of their games coming after their bye week. They’re 29-31 in the second half of the season when their bye week falls on Week 7. That’s the bad news. The good news is that the Lions are 15-8 coming out of the bye in the Jim Caldwell era. Let’s see if that trend continues.
Win loss ratios going into bye week the years DET made the playoffs.
— Kelly Modad Jr. (@Kmodad) October 19, 2017
Hey, it’s my best friend Kelly. Always nice to get questions from people you know. Perhaps my mom will send me one someday. #MyMomIsNotReallyIntoSportsStat
I got you Kelly mo, got more game than Ben yo. Here’s the list of the Lions records before and after the bye week in the years they made the playoffs since the bye week was implemented in 1990.
Lions and the Bye
| Year | Record before Bye | Record after bye |
|---|---|---|
| Year | Record before Bye | Record after bye |
| 1991 | 5-1 | 7-3 |
| 1993 | 3-2 | 7-4 |
| 1994 | 2-5 | 7-3 |
| 1995 | 1-3 | 9-3 |
| 1997 | 4-4 | 5-3 |
| 1999 | 2-1 | 6-7 |
| 2011 | 6-2 | 4-4 |
| 2014 | 6-2 | 5-3 |
| 2016 | 5-4 | 4-3 |
There seems to be some sort of correlation between winning before and after the bye and making the playoffs. We’ll work day and night in the POD labs to discover this.
What is the all-time record of our NFC North foes during our bye week? Not directly a Lions stat, but still.
— Aaron Thompson (@a_a_ron_att) October 19, 2017
This one made me excited. Fun questions like this are why I love Random Stats. Okay, here’s the scoop. There have been a ton of times where the Lions have shared the bye week with one or more of their NFC North foes. So these numbers are all different.
The Packers are 10-8, the Bears are 8-10 and the Vikings are 12-4 when the Lions are on their bye week. That’s an issue for the Lions, especially with the Vikings. They’re the team the Lions need to keep pace with most at this point.
The Lions could use all three teams to lose on their bye week. but sadly, that’s only happened one time... In 2016.
song number 1 in usa during lions' 2008 bye week?
— Ryan Harris (@RhNando11) October 19, 2017
I saw this one and was immediately excited. The chance to look up a song is a chance I love to jump at. Then I saw what song it was. I’ll never forget dancing with that girl at that college party in Olivet. And then her exclaiming, “this is my song” to me and walking away to form a giant circle of college women dancing and stomping their feet to this Pink song.
I never saw that girl again. It all makes sense now. This is why the Lions went 0-16.