Even the most negative of Detroit Lions fans will have a hard time being more down on the 2019 edition of the team than one of the ESPN computer simulators.
It was just one out of 20,000 simulations the folks at ESPN ran, playing out the entire 2019 season for every team. But it happens to be one where the worst-case scenario for the Lions plays out.
How about starting the season with a 36-10 defeat in Arizona? An 0-10 start that sees Matt Patricia get fired? The third-worst record in the league?
Yep. That’s the one simulation ESPN chose to highlight in their expansive breakout on Monday. The 4-12 finish (only Carolina and Cincinnati are worse) after the 0-10 start and end of Matt Patricia’s tenure is probably the most dismal prediction of the way the 2019 Detroit Lions season plays out.
It would be nice to see an aggregation of the entire 20,000 simulations. Was this an extreme outlier? How many ended with the Lions hoisting the Lombardi Trophy?
Nope. None of that. Just the abysmal forecast of context-less doom and gloom.
This specific simulation played out with the New Orleans Saints beating the Los Angeles Chargers in the Super Bowl.
