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tomdalton22
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From an ESPN article. Every team's chance and path to a SB.
Detroit Lions
Probability of Super Bowl win: 1.1 percent
The path: Now that Teddy Bridgewater is out for the year, if Aaron Rodgers is unavailable for a large chunk of time in 2016 -- maybe he decides to follow his brother in "The Bachelor" -- the NFC North becomes a free-for-all. The Lions went 6-2 in the second half after a brutal (and in some ways unlucky) 1-7 first half. They had just one win over a team with even a .500 record, which isn't promising, but they also came within a few inches of beating the Seahawks and Packers, the latter for a second time. It's not out of the question Detroit looks more like that second-half team in 2016, and that's a pretty good team.
The comparable champion: 2007 Giants. The Lions, of course, will have to try to win in 2016 without the now-retired Calvin Johnson, leaving them without their best offensive weapon. The same was true of the 2007 Giants, who lost Tiki Barber to retirement after a 2006 season in which he ran for 1,662 yards and averaged 5.1 yards per carry. Barber is no Megatron, but he might have been just as hard for that specific Giants team to replace in some ways. The Giants also were led by an interception-prone quarterback, Eli Manning, who had established himself as just good enough in the regular season to lose in the playoffs, where he was 0-2. Matthew Stafford, who has a career interception rate of 2.7 percent, is 0-2 in the playoffs.
Detroit Lions
Probability of Super Bowl win: 1.1 percent
The path: Now that Teddy Bridgewater is out for the year, if Aaron Rodgers is unavailable for a large chunk of time in 2016 -- maybe he decides to follow his brother in "The Bachelor" -- the NFC North becomes a free-for-all. The Lions went 6-2 in the second half after a brutal (and in some ways unlucky) 1-7 first half. They had just one win over a team with even a .500 record, which isn't promising, but they also came within a few inches of beating the Seahawks and Packers, the latter for a second time. It's not out of the question Detroit looks more like that second-half team in 2016, and that's a pretty good team.
The comparable champion: 2007 Giants. The Lions, of course, will have to try to win in 2016 without the now-retired Calvin Johnson, leaving them without their best offensive weapon. The same was true of the 2007 Giants, who lost Tiki Barber to retirement after a 2006 season in which he ran for 1,662 yards and averaged 5.1 yards per carry. Barber is no Megatron, but he might have been just as hard for that specific Giants team to replace in some ways. The Giants also were led by an interception-prone quarterback, Eli Manning, who had established himself as just good enough in the regular season to lose in the playoffs, where he was 0-2. Matthew Stafford, who has a career interception rate of 2.7 percent, is 0-2 in the playoffs.
