Now that the Lions have designated Matt Stafford their opening-day starter, I am moderating my optimism for the team. I now think 8-8 is probably the ceiling for how well they will achieve this year. Sure, he could pull a Joe Flacco or Matt Ryan, but as Dan Patrick pointed out, they went to fundamentally solid teams that had underachieved. Matt Stafford is not so fortunate and is likely to find himself on his back more often than not.
For now, I am sticking with the following prediction:
Packers: 10-6 with tiebreakers
Bears: 10-6 with wildcard
Vikings: 9-7
Lions 8-8