The Detroit Lions will have to face a defensive conundrum

The truth of the matter is that for this team to turn things around next season it will take a balanced, yet brilliant, draft along with selective free agent signings that will address both sides of the ball, although it most likely won’t fill all the needs.

Then Matt Patricia and his staff will need to continue to get the type of growth this defense has had over the last several weeks during the offseason activities and next years training camp allowing the Lions to enter the season at an above competent level of play.

This will mostly fulfill what Patricia needs to accomplish for the sake of his blueprint and set him up for the opportunity to have success.

On the offensive side of the ball, Patricia will need find an offensive coordinator that can bring a diverse, yet efficient offensive system to the Motor City. An offense that can dictate to the defense what they will do, not what the defense will allow them to do.

A team that can run the ball and stretch the field in the passing game. A system perhaps like the Los Angeles Rams that runs so many diverse plays out of the same sets. You can almost never tell what the Rams will do when they line up because they don’t often use tell-tale formations or substitutions.

If the Lions can accomplish all that it would be amazing, but they would still need one final element; Matthew Stafford will have to rebound and play like a franchise quarterback. For those who have soured on him, this seems impossible, but the truth is that this is not necessarily the hardest part of the plan.

With a good offensive coordinator that communicates well and get the most out of his personnel and is able to create the element of surprise with his system, it could do wonders for Stafford’s career.

Would it suddenly make him Tom Brady? No, but to keep the opposing defense guessing and get consistent contributions from the ground game and that element of surprise helping the receivers get more space to work with, not only would the offense look completely different, but Matthew Stafford could as well.

Despite two games remaining on the schedule, the offseason planning should start taking place and Bob Quinn, with Matt Patricia, need to be ready to strike masterfully and decisively this offseason.

Is this all a lot to ask for? Considering how often things don’t go right for this franchise, I would certainly say ‘yes’, but stranger things have happened and good coaching on both sides of the ball combined with a successful offseason can certainly be a difference maker. Especially with the right offensive coordinator.

Otherwise, we can expect another repeat of the ‘same old Lions’ dragging us through another one of the same old disappointing seasons that we’ve seen all too many times before.