The Detroit Lions are not a great team, but this rebuild has reset expectations again and there are reasons for hope.
The Detroit Lions are not a good team. However, there should be some solace that rebuilding from the ground up is the core of the problem.
Lions fans are once again singing the Honolulu Blues. The Motor City’s entrant to the NFL hasn’t come close to getting it right since their last championship back in 1957.
That’s a long time. Just ask anyone who was around for that last title. If you ask anyone who wasn’t, then it really seems like ancient history.
For those of us who have never experienced the joy of our Lions becoming world champions, let alone ever having been a legitimate contender to do so, there is an emptiness that never stops knawing at our souls.
Sure, for those of us who have experienced the Detroit Tigers, Pistons, and Red Wings winning it all, we know what the thrill of a championship is like. But the Lions are the kings of the Motor City. Detroit is a football town.
The Lions generate more interest than any of the three other professional tenants who reside within walking distance of Ford Field. Those other three residents have actually had success in the last few decades though.
Yet here we sit and watch the Lions no matter what. Even in the past when the Tigers have made a late-season push for the playoffs, they still haven’t been able to outdraw their Honolulu Blue and Silver neighbors.
Yet as we sit through another tough season, perhaps there is reason to be optimistic. The Lions are going to be bad this year, there’s no getting around it. But when you consider they are completely rebuilding their roster and have the second-youngest team in the league, they have a pretty good reason to be bad.
The Lions seem to be in a perpetual rebuild, but here are a couple early reasons this time will be different.