Does Matthew Stafford still have to prove himself?

Matthew 0Stafford still has many non-believers both nationally and locally in his ability to make the Detroit Lions champions, but is this perception fair?

The Detroit Lions are no stranger to being overlooked or underestimated. Both as a team and the individual players that have worn the Honolulu Blue and Silver.

As a matter of fact it takes an extremely exceptional player to garner national acclaim while wearing a Lions jersey.

Players like Barry Sanders and Calvin Johnson are revered around NFL circles everywhere for their unworldly abilities that made them the virtually unstoppable forces they were on the football field. No matter where you go, if you bring up Barry or Calvin, rival cities and fan bases will toss their admiration on the flames of their spectacular careers.

Then they will almost wistfully say, ‘imagine if they had played for a good team’.

That last statement reveals the problem that Lions players have to battle nationally year in and out. The perception of a franchise that has been so inept over the course of the last 60 years that it is impossible for good players to get any credit, even when it’s due, for their play on the field.

Now granted the perception has been reality from a standpoint of team success. The Lions have mostly been mediocre to bad over the course of that time period and when they have been pretty good, it has been short lived because the playoffs always revealed them as pretenders.

Since the Lions won their last championship in 1957, they have won a whopping one playoff game.

That degree of ineptitude is really astounding to be honest, yet it is what it is.

As a matter of fact after routing the Dallas Cowboys in 1991 for that single playoff victory, they managed to erase all hope and national good will when they were slaughtered 41-10 by the Washington Redskins in the NFC title game.

Which in a nutshell wraps up the national perception of this franchise.