Sports Illustrated's Peter King unveiled his post-draft NFL power rankings Monday and to no one's surprise the Patriots and Colts top the list. The Lions? Your lovable local team with seven straight losing seasons checks in a disappointing 26th.

King writes: "I give up. Every year I think this has to be the season Detroit finally gets over the hump. Nope. Won't get fooled again. The Lions are staring down the barrel of 6-10. But there's something different in Detroit, I think. It's Marinelli-ball. We're not seeing the quick fixes of the past."

King is right that Lions coach Rod Marinelli has taken a different approach to this offseason for the betterment of the franchise. He filled holes in the draft and free agency with unsexy but stable names, and the Lions will have a different look this year. They could be dangerous on offense with an improved running game and two of the game's most talented receivers in Calvin Johnson and Roy Williams. As always, though, it will come down to defense and scheduling.

I made my early-spring prediction of 8-8 when the schedule came out and don't intend to re-evaluate that until training camp. King ranked the Lions last in the NFC North (my division winner Minnesota was seventh, Green Bay eighth and Chicago 25th) and ahead of only two teams on their schedule, No. 28 San Francisco and No. 32 Atlanta.

You can read the whole article here: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/writers/peter_king/05/02/rankings/3.html