Detroit Lions: Victory in the fall starts with winning the offseason

There have been a few moves the Lions didn’t make that have raised the ire of the Honolulu Blue and Silver faithful this offseason. Splash moves that the fans were screaming for just because they were big names. But teams don’t win championships because of big-name players.

I know, I know, many of you will start throwing out there names like Tom Brady, Joe Montana, Jerry Rice, Emmitt Smith, ‘Mean’ Joe Greene, Deion Sanders, Ronnie Lott and so many more stars that have been a part of championship teams, but there have been just as many great players that have never won a championship.

Think of players like Dan Marino, Jim Kelly, Dan Fouts, Eric Dickerson, Kellen Winslow, Dick Butkus, Gayle Sayers, and Bruce Smith to name just a few who never won it all.

Sure some of them played on winning teams and even in the Super Bowl, but being big names, some might even say legendary names, didn’t get them a ring.

Just look at two of the most iconic players in Lions history. Barry Sanders and Calvin Johnson are arguably a couple of the best to ever play the game, but neither of them were ever able to get to the Super Bowl, much less win it.

Now that wasn’t their fault because winning the Super Bowl is a team effort and many great players have left the game unfulfilled because they didn’t play on great teams or were simply unable to overcome better teams.

So with that in mind, let’s not concentrate on who the Lions didn’t get, but who they were able to sign and whether it makes them a better team and contributes to Matt Patricia’s vision of what he is trying to build.

It is only through this light that we can truly have any idea of how much or little general manager Bob Quinn has accomplished so far this offseason.