There are many different things that would need to happen for the Detroit Lions to contend for an NFC North title this year. If, at the end of the season, everything works out in the Lions’ favor in 2020 and we can celebrate a successful season for the first time literally in ages, there will certainly be plenty of numbers to look at to explain it all.
The old anti-statistic axioms like “stats don’t tell the story”, and “the only number that matters is a letter: W” exist for a reason, but so does a multi-million dollar industry for both traditional stat-keeping and advanced analytics.