The Lions finally found their pride

For all of my life, and most of the Lions fans lives, the Lions haven’t been good no matter how you try to spin it. Within recent events they have looked like a completely different team. Now what happened to fix them… the surface answer is that they got new coaches, management and players. But on a deeper level there is much more stuff going on. Once a pattern of losing stays, a culture of losing may come out of it, just ask the Cleveland Browns but what can happen to change this? The real answer is, 2 words, one man. Brad Holmes. One of the best General Managers [GM] in the league, and now the reason the Lions are now a ferocious team in the NFC. 

THE PAST HISTORY

Before talking about how good they’ve become, why don’t we talk about how bad they were. The Lions record before from 2000-2021 was 131-237-2, leading to zero playoff wins and multiple different top 10 picks. The Detroit Lions were the very first team to go 0-16 in the 16 game era. The Lions had multiple Hall of Famers, such as Calvin Johnson, Barry Sanders, and neither of them got more than 1 playoff win while on the team. I haven’t even mentioned the curse of Bobby Lane… Bobby Lane led the Lions to 3 NFL Championships while playing with the team from 1950-1958. Then after the last year they won the Championship 1957, he cursed them for bad luck after he was traded away to the Pittsburgh Steelers. They only ended up winning 1 playoff win after this whole curse. Then in hilarious fashion in 2023, Peyton Manning, and Jeff Daniels, set out to “break” the curse, and it seems that they did in fact do it. 

THE BRAD HOLMES EXPERIENCE

This changed it all and switched the way the Lions were looked at… but that isn’t the exact reason it all happened. One of the biggest come ups was on January 14th 2021, the Detroit Lions hired Brad Holmes to be their GM, and as their GM, Brad Holmes has many accomplishments… His first big move was trading The star QB Matthew Stafford to the Rams for Jared Goff and 2 first round picks as well as a third rounder. 

Then in his first draft, Penei Sewell became a staple to this Lions O-line, in the next 2 rounds Brad got some amazing and very important Defensive pieces, Alim McNeil and Levi Onwuruike, and Ifetu Melifonwu. Then one of the best late round picks we have seen in years for a WR Amon-Ra St. Brown, who is one of the NFLs elite receivers and was picked in the 4th round. This was just his first draft as a GM, which just shows how good of a GM he was, and it only gets better from here.  This draft led to a not great season, but there were some highlights as Amon-Ra St Brown had a breakout season as of late, and it seemed like he was a great piece for the team… 

This season led to the Lions getting the 2nd Overall pick, in the NFL draft, and leading to the Lions getting University of Michigan’s star Aidan Hutchinson. This wasn’t the only good pick even in just the first round for the Lions. The Lions also drafted Jameson Williams, a WR from Alabama. Then getting Josh Pascal, a good and reliable Defensive Player, but in the 3rd round landing Kerby Joseph the Free Safety from the University of the Illinois, as well as some good pieces in the later rounds, but it seems that Brad Holmes’ history of drafting well keeps on continuing. This year changed everything for the Lions, as they started 1-6, but ended up going 9-8, which was one of the first times in many years that the Lions ended with a positive record. 

But because the Lions had gotten the Rams Draft picks in the Jared Goff trade, they had the 6th overall pick, but Holmes wanted to trade back for more assets, getting a bit of a “reach” and drafting Jahmyr Gibbs, and Jack Campbell in the first round. Then getting 2 new and different 2nd round picks Sam Laporta, Brian Branch, who were 2 great prospects. Those 4 picks were all hits, or as close as you can get to going 4/4 as they have all been key pieces to winning or being such an amazing team. This year was what really showed the change for the Lions, as they went 12-5, winning their very first playoff game ever and making it to the NFC championship, which they lost in horrible fashion, but the Lions were still hungry and wanted to try and win again. This was one of the best seasons by the Lions ever. The Lions overhauled at Cornerbacks in the NFL draft, drafting Terrion Arnold and Ennis Rakestraw, which have been good picks, but very unlucky with injury history. That doesn’t mean they don’t have a chance to be good though! 

 But Holmes didn’t stop there. This season was the best by the Lions we have ever seen, as the Lions went 15-2 for the first time in the team’s history, and this team looked like it would win it all. But they fell short because of many different reasons, now this team isn’t ever gonna admit that or say that they didn’t win because of anything but their play, but the Lions got a bad case of the Injury bug before the end of the year and it didn’t go well, but this team stays hungry, and they aren’t done yet. They had a great draft, getting Tyliek Williams in the very first round, then Tate Ratledge in the 2nd, getting 2 good key players so far this year.

This year, the Lions got off to a bad start, but I think the loss against the Packers brought them back down to earth. The games against the Bears, the Ravens, and the Browns are showing just how good this team can be, especially if we continue to mesh more and more. Nobody loves having to watch  losing football, so it is good to see the Lions continuing to improve more and more.  This is what the Lions needed and now they are looking way better as a team. Brad Holmes has changed the culture and made the Lions look like a whole new team and not the laughing stock we were known to be. The whole state of Michigan, will forever thank Brad Holmes, for saving our experience as Lions fans and making us root for something for once. 

The experience as a fan can be long, bumpy and fun. But why not go along for the ride, as the many lows and highs is what makes football so fun. Just know that even though they might not always win, you gotta stick by their side and don’t jump ship. The Lions are an amazing team, and have gotten way better compared to what they were before, and as a fan all I can do is hope that we keep growing, winning, and staying on this great track we stay on. Let’s hope for the Lions to win the Super Bowl, and to see them finally get the Super Bowl win we have been waiting for. GO LIONS!