Detroit Lions: Tanking isn’t the answer for a better future

Have a record  of 4-5 isn’t what you’d expect from a playoff caliber team this far into the NFL season. Yet, should the Detroit Lions actually try not to win?

I’ve seen it and heard it all before. And my reaction stays the same. No, the Detroit Lions shouldn’t tank their season.

For the noobs, tanking means to lose on purpose. To do so you can’t make it painfully obvious. That means playing undrafted free agents, conservative playcalling, etc. Plenty of Lions fans have this hunch the team isn’t trying to win. Just stop it!

It’s ridiculous to think a rookie head coach like Matt Patricia, who’s so used to winning (former defensive coordinator with the New England Patriots), would deliberately fail his team. His buddy Bob Quinn isn’t in the business to be a losing general manager either.

Neither have been perfect, far from it really. The ups and downs make the feelings of being a Detroit fan all the more familiar and consistent.

Treading water and being average is one of the worst things you can do over a long duration of time. The past two seasons, the Lions finished with a 9-7. They’d be lucky to be above .500 by season’s end.

The toughest part about being a fan when your team is mediocre is the glimmers of hope you feel with some complete disappointments thrown in. Ultimately making your desires of the team dwindle down to dangerously low levels. Belief throughout the fanbase was Matty P would improve the team and most likely that won’t happen.

Remember, nothing is more demoralizing than being amongst the worst of your peers. Yes, teams have risen from the ashes of Suckville to a Glorytown, but the dynasties rarely draft high.

You think the Patriots sweat over drafting in the lower end of the NFL draft year after year? Obviously not.

There’s plenty of talent to choose from and it’s such a deep defensive class coming up in 2019. The difference picking 10th to 20th shouldn’t matter.

Understandably, the possibility of getting a better prospect is greater the higher you select but there’s also more pressure to make the right pick. Plenty of talented players taken outside of round one would be go number one overall if the draft was more like fortune telling than shooting craps.

At the end of the day, it’s about who you draft more than where you draft. On top of that, signing the right players in free agency and having leaders of men (coaching staff/front office) in place to guide the ship is vastly important too.

Here’s an idea, if the draft pick is so low and the talent available is uninspiring, trading draft capital for a current and proven player is an option. Sometimes that works better than drafting a rookie.

Every team has a story and have been built a multitude of ways. The recipe is never the same, just the goal, Super Bowl.

Losing is a habit Detroit needs to kick and tanking won’t accomplish that. Generally those picking in the top ten (Lions especially) find themselves there again more than they should. So what good did losing do then? Nada, nothin’, zip.

No fan should welcome losing. Yes, the Detroit Lions have the reputation of being losers, so why continue that trend? Simple, you don’t because they’ve been unacceptable for over 60 years. Keep winning at all costs and demand it, otherwise you’re just the Same Old Lions and you’re allowing this team to lose.