The Detroit Lions have gone seven years without a winning season, despite last year’s guarantee by Jon Kitna that the team would win ten games. AccuScore forecasts give the Lions just a 17 percent chance of having a winning season this year, compared to a 67.9 percent chance of the team finishing with yet another losing record. The Lions are finishing with a 7-9 record in the majority of AccuScore simulations, which ranks fourth in a tough NFC North division.

Even with another losing season pending, the Lions should be a fun team to watch. Mike Martz may be gone, but the offense should still be electrifying, with Jon Kitna throwing for over 3500 yards and 22 touchdowns in AccuScore simulations. After years of drafting receivers in the first round, the Lions have a solid one two punch in Roy Williams and Calvin Johnson, both of which are catching for over 1000 yards in AccuScore projections.

The running game was a problem for Detroit last year, as their 80.5 yards per game average ranked next to last in the NFL. This wasn’t necessarily a problem with the quality of the running game, but the amount the running game was used. The Lions had a 4.0 yards per carry average, good enough for 19th in the league, but had the fewest rushing attempts in the NFL.

Kevin Smith is taking over the rushing duties, and is running for 4.6 yards per carry in AccuScore simulations. The Lions passed 64 percent of the time last season, but are only passing 54 percent of the time in simulations for the 2008 season, thanks in large part to the production of Smith.

The Lions offense scored 21 points per game last season, and the 2008 offense is matching that total in simulations. The defense is seeing some slight improvement, allowing just 24 points per game, compared to the 27 per game last season. Still, that improvement is not enough to get the Lions out of their current losing streak, which looks to extend to eight seasons after this year.