The Lions haven’t won their division since 1993. They are one of the four teams to never go to the Super Bowl. They also haven’t made the playoffs since 2016. The team has never been consistently good and have always been the laughingstock of the NFL. But a few years ago everything changed.
In January of 2021, the Lions had once again a very disappointing year and ended up firing their coach Matt Patricia. In the offseason, the Lions hired Dan Campbell as their new head coach and Brad Holmes as their new General Manager in an attempt to end the losing streak. Campbell and Holmes decided to trade Matthew Stafford to the Rams for three draft picks, plus Jared Goff. Unlike the last few Lions coaches and General Managers, Campbell and Holmes had a plan.
In 2021, the Lions had a great draft class by drafting Penei Sewell in the first round and Alim McNeill in the third, but the real steal might have been in the fourth when the Lions decided to take a risk and draft Amon-Ra St. Brown. At the time, many people were surprised with the pick since St. Brown was undersized. In the end, he turned out to be a great pick and Amon-Ra has become one of the best wide receivers in the NFL. In the same year, the Lions finished the season 3-13-1.
In 2022 it only got better when Campbell and Holmes had another great draft by getting defensive edge Aidan Hutchinson, who was arguably one of the best players in his draft class. Hutchinson finished with 9.5 sacks, three interceptions and two fumble recoveries. Not only did Hutchinson shock the NFL world but he also helped the Lions considerably in the 2022 season. Kerby Joseph and James Houston were also good surprises late in the draft and ended up being everyday players for Detroit—both players serving as examples of how well the Lions have drafted and rebuilt their team.
Even though everything seemed to be going well in 2022, the Lions got off to a shockingly bad 1-6 start. Then the Lions shook the NFL world again and finished the season 8-2 to finish 9-8 on the year. Even though Detroit didn’t make the playoffs, followers were surprised by how well Goff did at the end of the year and how well the Lions defense performed.
It’s been 30 years since the Lions last won their division, but every betting site has the Lions favored to win it this year. In the end this couldn’t have happened without Campbell and Holmes who were able to work together and draft amazing players. The amazing trade of Stafford looks like a steal for the Lions. Ever since late last year, Goff has been playing like a top 10 quarterback, while Stafford has been injured and playing less than he is capable of ever since he was in the Super Bowl. The Lions also got an additional three players in that trade too, who have all ended up playing amazing and making the roster this year.
The Lions are still the Lions, and even though it is the beginning of the season, I think we can all agree that something feels different about this team. Home season tickets were sold out for the first time in Ford Field history. It took a very long time to become this good, but Campbell and Holmes did it right. They slowly built the team from draft picks and it worked. Now Lions fans across Michigan get to enjoy the Lions finally being a good enough team to compete in the NFL. You can tell from watching the games how good the Lions could be this year if they are able to play as a team. Yes—the Lions are still the Lions—but this team is different.
