Successful new Detroit Lions regime could have a long-lasting effect
By Robert Jones
If new regime is successful, the positive effect could change the Detroit Lions’ long-term
The Detroit Lions were once the kings of the NFL jungle. Way back in the 1950s they were a dynasty that other teams feared and envied. Today… well, let’s just say that no other self-respecting team envies them anymore.
In just a couple of days on Dec. 29, it will mark the 63rd anniversary of the Detroit Lions’ last championship. A date that lives in infamy here in the Motor City. Not because that last title was meaningless, but because of the inability of this franchise to at least build a team that had a legitimate chance at winning it all since.
Quite frankly, the Lions have become a mining operation since that last championship as they have dug themselves to lower depths than anyone who witnessed that powerhouse team of the 1950s could have ever imagined. They have become a team that has made the postseason only 12 times in the last 63 years and won a total of one lonely playoff game in that time.
As a matter of fact, on January 5, 1992, the Detroit Lions became the only NFL franchise to defeat the Jimmie Johnson led Dallas Cowboys in the postseason. Then one week later they traveled to Washington for the NFC championship game only to be destroyed 41-10.
Even when there was an actual high point for the Lions, it was cruelly dashed before we knew what happened. Now almost 28 years later, even that lone playoff win is nothing more than a distant memory.
Today the Lions are settling in for another last-place finish in the NFC North. The regime of general manager Bob Quinn and head coach Matt Patricia have suffered the ritualistic failure and subsequent exile that seems to happen to every regime this franchise has employed since 1957, and Sheila Ford Hamp, the latest Ford model at the reigns of this mess, is continuing the never-ending search for a cure.
With the aid of multiple advisors, Sheila is deeply involved in the process of searching for a new general manager and head coach that can turnaround this woeful franchise. Maybe with a lot of help, and even more luck, the Lions will find finally find the leadership they have lacked for the last six decades.