The Detroit Lions have been searching for a winning formula for the last half- century.
But the blueprint is in plain sight.
You can see it in how the Los Angeles Rams were constructed. Build up the roster through any means necessary. Be aggressive. Throw around No. 1 picks like they are candy, swapping them for proven assets. Pluck stars from other teams. Find a few studs in the draft like Aaron Donald and Cooper Kupp. Don’t be afraid to let some of your players walk in free agency. Fill out your roster with players in later rounds.
And when it’s time to go all-in, go freakin’ all-in. Trade the future for a quarterback who can put you over the top.
Bring in your Matthew Stafford.
Yes, that guy.
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More models to follow
But that’s just one way.
There’s another idea, another way to advance in the playoffs. I saw it come to life last weekend in the greatest football game I’ve ever seen.
The Kansas City Chiefs’ model.
Go find offensive weapons that can’t be stopped. Not even with 13 seconds to play. Find a generational quarterback like Patrick Mahomes. Grab some lightning in a bottle — yes, I’m talking about Tyreek Hill. Go find a tight end like Travis Kelce who can make a play in crunch time.
And — bingo, bango — before long, you are headed to the NFL’s version of the Final Four.
Yes, that works.
But here’s the bad news:
There’s only one Mahomes. Only one Hill. And only one Andy Reid to coach them.
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Fret not, though.
There’s another blueprint — the safest one, perhaps.
Maybe, the answer is the San Francisco 49ers’ model, which seems to match Dan Campbell’s personality. Try to be more balanced. Build a fantastic running game — the 49ers are ranked seventh in the NFL in rushing. Get a functional quarterback and build everything around play-action — the 49ers had the 12th-best passing attack in the NFL.
The 49ers might not be flashy. But they just beat the Packers and are one win from the Super Bowl.
Yes, that sounds closer to what is possible in Detroit; the Lions have already started down that road by pouring assets into what could turn into a fantastic offensive line.
Drafting weapons, not necessarily a QB
There is a lot of talk that the Lions need to get a quarterback in the draft, either this year or next year.
But if you look at the eight teams in the playoffs last weekend, one thing became clear: You don’t need to draft a quarterback to get there.
Half of the eight teams either traded for a quarterback or got one in free agency, including the Rams (Stafford), 49ers (Jimmy Garoppolo), Tampa Bay Buccaneers (Tom Brady), and Tennessee Titans (Ryan Tannehill).
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Now, let me be clear: If you can find a transformational quarterback in the draft, of course you take him because there is such an advantage to having a young stud at quarterback on a rookie deal. It helps clear up money to build an entire roster.
But drafting a quarterback is a crapshoot.
More than anything, you need offensive playmakers who can score.
There is one thing that unites the four teams playing this Sunday — all of them scored more than 50 touchdowns in the regular season.
Granted, they did it in different ways.
The Chiefs scored 57 touchdowns in 2021, 37 through the air.
Meanwhile, the 49ers scored 50 TDs, with 22 on the ground, 26 through the air and a pair on defense.
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By comparison, the Lions scored just 35 TDs, all on offense.
All four teams left in the playoffs have something else in common: Pro Bowl wide receivers. The Chiefs have Hill, the Rams have Kupp, the 49ers have Deebo Samuel and the Cincinnati Bengals have Ja’Marr Chase.
In addition, both the Chiefs and 49ers have Pro Bowl tight ends, in Kelce and George Kittle, respectively. Which makes something clear: The Lions have to find more offensive weapons.
The five steps for Detroit
In the old days, the key to winning was running the ball and stopping the run. But stopping the run doesn’t matter anymore.
Six of the NFL’s 14 playoff teams finished in the bottom 10 in rushing yards allowed per attempt. The Chiefs were actually the second-worst, giving up 4.8 yards per attempt.
That doesn’t seem to have hurt them.
But you know what you need on defense?
[ While ER nurse was saving wounded Oxford kids, his wife was dying from COVID-19 ]
Somebody who can go smack the quarterback. That’s something all four teams left have in common. Three of the four conference championship teams are proficient at making life miserable for opposing quarterbacks. The Chiefs had 59 quarterback knockdowns, according to Pro Football Reference, followed by the Bengals (53) and 49ers (52). Only the Rams — despite having Donald and midseason acquisition Von Miller — finished near the bottom of the league, with 37 knockdowns.
Still, that’s better than the Lions, who were last — just 29 knockdowns in 2021.
Welp.
So where does that leave the Lions? Here’s my plan. (And if you need a ray of hope, this draft is set up perfectly for the Lions.)
Step 1: Get somebody who can crush the quarterback. Considering there are two fantastic pass rushers in this draft and the Lions have the No. 2 overall pick, that’s a no-brainer pick.
Step 2: Get a stud receiver through the draft or free agency.
Step 3: Find more offensive playmakers in later rounds — another pick like Amon-Ra St. Brown would work just fine. Hey, we can dream, right.
Step 4: Ride Jared Goff next year.
Step 5: Don’t stretch for a quarterback in this draft. Don’t waste the pick.
Because these playoffs are showing us you don’t have to draft a quarterback to get to the second round, much less the conference title game.
But you do have to knock them down.
And score. It doesn’t matter if you pass it or run it. You just need to score.
That’s something that sounds unbelievably basic — but the Lions have never quite mastered it.
Contact Jeff Seidel: jseidel@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @seideljeff. To read his recent columns, go to freep.com/sports/jeff-seidel.