NFL teams like to break their seasons into quarters. It’s a trick the bad teams use to keep hope alive when most everyone has hit eject on their seasons, and one the good teams employ to not get too wide-eyed about what lies ahead.
For the Detroit Lions, the way the calendar falls this year, it makes more sense to divide the season into thirds.
The first third of their 18-week season is over, or will be once this week’s bye has passed, and the 1-4 Lions are about to enter the meat of their schedule as the most disappointing team in the league.