Detroit Lions: Winning starts up front, where’s the beef?
By Robert Jones
The Detroit Lions may be under a win-now mandate, but that will be hard to achieve without more quality players in the trenches.
The Detroit Lions are attempting to make a major overhaul in a short period of time. A feat that isn’t easy for even the best of teams to pull off.
They are attempting to re-tool, re-build or even revitalize a franchise that has spent the last two seasons going in reverse at full speed. Yet despite that ‘about-face’ the plans are to make next seasons model a contender.
Outside of fairy tales, how do you turn a Pinto into a Ferrari? How do you make a sputtering franchise without a motor, fit to enter the Indy 500? Especially given a pit crew that makes the Marx Brothers look like rocket scientists.
For the Detroit Lions, this offseason does not add up. The rumors that they are exploring trade possibilities for Matthew Stafford, the inevitability that they seemingly will trade Darius Slay and what appears to be a self-induced mandate by Martha Firestone Ford herself that these Lions must compete for the playoffs this next season or else.
As in ‘or else’ general manager Bob Quinn and Matt Patricia will lose their jobs? Or as in ‘or else’ the Lions still won’t be that good.
The contradiction of mandating that the Lions must win now, but the freedom to shop their best defensive player or have any kind of discussions regarding the team’s franchise quarterback and MVP, are quite stark and send out incredibly mixed messages.
Now in Bob Quinn’s defense, it’s his job to turn around this roster in whatever way he sees fit, but as the record has continued to trend in the wrong direction over the past two seasons, one has to wonder how or when this team will start to reap the benefits of his plan.
Two summers ago the Lions weeded out a roster that had been playoff contenders the previous season and turned it into a 6-10 franchise. After further work last offseason they were able to fine-tune it to 3-12-1. If we’re being honest, this franchise doesn’t want to continue on this path it’s being navigated down at break-neck speed.