Years Team Wins, Year 1 Wins, Year 2 Wins, Year 3 Wins, Year 4
1984-87 Vikings 3 7 9 8.5
1994-97 Redskins 3 6 9 8.5
2000-03 Falcons 4 7 9.5 5
2000-03 Browns 3 7 9 5
2009-12 Lions 2 6 10 ???
via The insanity of crowning a team the next great thing and the NFL’s Top 100 Players list – Grantland.
This dude went in way too hard on random statistics to show a pattern that the Lions, after improving from Year 1 to 2 and to 3 will decline in 4.
I disagree. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apophenia:
Apophenia is the experience of seeing meaningful patterns or connections in random or meaningless data.
Problem with comparing these teams? First, the Detroit Lions are improving with a great QB and WR tandem, above all. Elite QBs change the game. That 2003 Browns team? Split quarterbacking between Tim Couch and Kelly Holcomb (http://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/cle/2003.htm). Wonder why they sucked in ’03?
We could look up the rest – and I will – but none of the above mentioned probably ever had a QB throw for 5,000 yards. Staff Dog.
1987 Vikings – 3 horrible QBs, one who started 7, one who started 3, and one who started 5. A dysfunctional season that makes the win stats less meaningful.
1997 Redskins – Gus Frerotte, the staple of mediocrity, goes 6-6-1, and Jeff Hostetler goes 2-1. Man, if only.
2003 Falcons – Another bad example. The end of the Doug Johnson era (1-7 record), the shit Kurt Kitt era (1-3), but the finale: the birth of Michael Vick (3-1 in final 4 games). Great comparison to entrenched starter Matthew Stafford.
There you have it, snarfs.
Sometimes stats just don’t tell the whole story.
…………………………I guess ESPN must be swamped with Apopheniacs then eh snarfs!
No doubt.