Maybe I'm behind on this one, but I just found this cool thing on Pro Football Focus that let's simulate the entire season like you would on Madden. I had to do this for the Detroit Lions. Here's what happened. 

First off, the simulator like the Lions chances this coming season. The Lions finished with an 11-6 record. They did well in the NFC North too. They went 5-1 again. Not bad. You have to assume that was good enough to win the division. 

It goes a lot deeper. Let's get into some of the particulars that really caught my eyes in the simulation. 

Big Wins 

For starters, the simulator has the Lions starting off the season with a big 20-17 win over the Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs. The Lions also go on to drub the Ravens with a 47-17 win. They also get a nice little primetime win over the Packers in Week 4. Sadly their only loss in the NFC North comes to the Packers on Thanksgiving. 

Weird wins and losses

Well, if you're looking for excitement this season, you're going to get it in the Lions 3-0 win over the Saints in Week 13. I don't know how anyone could get through that game without tearing their hair out. There's also a 10-9 loss to the Raiders on Monday night football and a 38-3 loss to the Cowboys. I just don't see how the Cowboys are going to do that. That's why I think it's weird. 

Stats

This thing does the stats too. Let's look at what they have. First off, Jared Goff doesn't have the greatest season. It seems the simulator really thinks they're going to run the ball a lot. Goff finishes with 3,898 yards, 21 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. I think this would be a major letdown. 

The receivers felt this letdown as well. Amon-Ra St. Brown finished with 915 yards and seven touchdowns. Marvin Jones followed him with 550 yards and two touchdowns. Lasty, Jameson Williams had 466 yards and two touchdowns. I don't know what this simulator is doing here. 

In the run game, David Montgomery lit the league on fire with 1,646 yards and seven touchdowns. If this actually happens, they'll have to build a statue of him outside Ford Field.

Jahmyr Gibbs had a nice rookie season too. He rushed for 713 yards and 1 touchdown. He also had 163 yards receiving and an extra touchdown there too. In terms of getting yards, he was good. He just couldn't get into the end zone on the simulator. That's pretty weird for a home run hitter like Gibbs.

Sam LaPorta finished with 315 yards and two touchdowns. Pretty meh if you ask me. 

The simulator doesn't cover defensive stats, so I have nothing to offer you there. Although the stats don't really seem to match up with the teams record, so who knows? 

Let's have fun with this. At the end of the season, Let's come back to this and compare and contrast. I think the record is spot on, but the stats should be significantly different. I think they'll be a lot better too. 

Featured image by Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK