Are the 2018 Detroit Lions really destined for a last place finish?
By Robert Jones
Yes, it is true that the Detroit Lions have been sad and pathetic in the Super Bowl era. Yet I think that deep down we all realize that being a Lions fan is basically being a masochist waiting for the next painful moment to arrive.
And this franchise has obliged us with more than we can count.
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However, the Lions have not yet hit the record for longest championship drought in professional sports. Consider this; the Chicago Cubs went 108 seasons without a world championship before they beat the Cleveland Indians in the 2016 World Series to end the streak. When the Boston Red Sox won the 2004 World Series they ended an 86 year drought.
While the Lions have been futile, they haven’t reached those extremes yet.
As a matter of fact, one of the most pathetic teams in NFL history was the Pittsburgh Steelers from their inception in 1933 until 1972. In that time period, they appeared in one playoff game which they lost 21-0 in 1947 to the Philadelphia Eagles. They annually finished in last place and were generally considered a laughingstock. As a side note, the Chicago Cardinals won the title in 1947 and now two cities later they still haven’t won another.
As for the Steelers, in 1969 they hired Chuck Noll, drafted very well and then proceeded to win four Super Bowls in the 1970’s and have continued to be one of the premier teams in the NFL.
That was considered a miracle by every football expert and prognosticator of that time period.
Yet history continues to repeat itself as the even more widespread media simply look at a franchise and makes a prediction based on what has been in the past instead of actually exerting the effort to take a good hard unbiased look at where a team is today.
So the question I ask now is simple; if other teams can turn around their franchise, why can’t the Lions?