Monday open thread: How many more games will the Detroit Lions win in 2022?

The Detroit Lions have won two games in a row—both divisional games—that have demonstrated something they have been missing for a few years now: a capability to finish games.

The Lions aren’t playing lights-out football, and they’ve been outgained in both of their last games (both overall and on a per-play basis), but they’ve weathered the emotional storms of each game and made huge plays in the fourth quarter to seal the win. In the NFL, that’s the biggest winning formula.

And so the Lions sit at 3-6, already at their win total from last season with a half-year of games still left to be played. Do the Lions continue to go on their streak and suddenly reach the win totals we were all predicting at the beginning of the year? Or will this short stretch prove to be a bit of a fluke, eventually landing Detroit a top-five pick? Or is the answer somewhere in the middle?

Today’s Question of the Day is:

How many wins will the Lions finish with?

My answer: Let’s look at the schedule first. Here’s a look at the remaining opponents and their current records:

• at Giants (7-2)
• vs. Bills (6-3)
• vs. Jaguars (3-7)
• vs. Vikings (8-1)
• at Jets (6-3)
• at Panthers (3-7)
• vs. Bears (3-7)
• at Packers (4-6)

It’s a pretty balanced schedule the rest of the way: four teams above .500 (two at home), four games below .500 (two at home). It still feels like the jury is truly out on the Jets and Giants, but they certainly aren’t going to be the cakewalk many of us believed in the offseason. That said, the Packers are flailing, even if they did pick up a desperation win over the Cowboys in overtime on Sunday.

Schedule aside, there are legitimate reasons to believe the Lions are getting better. They have now won games due to key defensive plays late in the game. That simply hasn’t happened with Dan Campbell teams yet. And while the offense continues to be in a bit of a lull, they could be getting some reinforcements soon. DJ Chark can come off injured reserve this week, and there’s reason to believe Josh Reynolds could be in the lineup against the Giants. Oh, and don’t forget about the debut of Jameson Williams coming this holiday season.

This team has four very winnable games remaining on the schedule, and I’m not counting them out against the Jets or Giants. They’ll have a tough time against the Vikings—even though they almost beat them before—and the Bills.

So I’ll take the fair route here and say that the Lions split their remaining “winnable games,” go 3-5 down the stretch and finish the year 6-11.

Your turn.