Fanatics, Inc., a retailer of sports apparel based in Jacksonville, finds that the demand for NFL team  jerseys depends of the performance of the team in the past season. Data from the AFC championship rankings was collected over the last two years and expressed through the expression:

Y = -10,349x + 158,900
R² = 0.8766

 

a. The Jaguars ranked second in the 2017 season. How many Jaguars jerseys can Fanatics, Inc. plan to sell? 

b. What is your interpretation of the R2? 

c. How many jerseys can the company expect to sell for the team that ranked last in 2017? Is this result realistic? 

d. How could the company improve this causal forecasting method?