A team going from last place to first in its division is far from an oddity in the NFL.
With last-place teams getting advantages like favorable schedules and higher draft picks, there have been 27 teams since the 2002 realignment that followed up a last-place finish with a division title the following season.
The Chicago Bears in the NFC North and the New England Patriots in the AFC East both pulled off the trick last season, making it the fifth time in the past six seasons that at least one team has done it. Perhaps no team is better positioned to do it this season than the Detroit Lions, who finished fourth in the NFC North with a 9-8 record last season and still have many of the key pieces that helped the team earn their conference’s top seed in the NFC playoffs just one year earlier.
The Lions were hurt by injuries on defense last season and the struggle to replace offensive play-caller Ben Johnson, who became the head coach in Chicago and led the Bears to their quick turnaround. Detroit hired Drew Petzig in the most recent offseason to take over as offensive coordinator after John Morton was stripped of play-calling duties midway through the season.
The Lions should benefit from a last-place schedule that features nine of their 11 games outside the division against teams that finished with losing records last season.