ALLEN PARK -- There might not be a bigger storyline heading into 2020 than the health of Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford, who has dealt with three back injuries in a calendar year. And Detroit couldn’t win a single game without him.

Good news: Stafford says his back is already in good shape after resting the final eight games of the season, and he expects to be ready to go for the start of the offseason program in April.

“I feel really good, which is good,” Stafford said during locker room clean out on Monday afternoon. “I’ve had quite a bit of rest, obviously, and I think I’ll be feeling really, really good pretty darn soon to tell you the truth.”

Stafford fractured bones in his back when he plowed into a defender near the goal line in a game against Oakland on Nov. 3. He stayed in the game -- in fact, he threw a would-be winner through the finger tips of tight end Logan Thomas in the final seconds -- but a scan later revealed the injury to be more serious than initially believed.

He was a late scratch the following week in Chicago, and never played again in what was shaping up to be one of the best seasons of his career. Despite the injury, his 312.4 passing yards per game ranked second in the league, and his 106.0 QB rating ranked sixth.

And without him, the Lions went 0-8.

Stafford’s importance to Detroit goes without saying, and the same could now be said of the growing concern for his back. The 31-year-old has dealt with three such injuries in the last calendar year, fighting through a back injury in a Week 4 game against Kansas City, and playing through more broken bones in his back in the second half of 2018.

But Stafford, who turns 32 in February, says he’s not concerned about long-term problems with his back and believes rest will have him in tip-top by next fall.

“I’m not concerned about it," Stafford said. “That should make people feel good. I’m the guy who’s living with the back, so I feel pretty good about it.”