Successful new Detroit Lions regime could have a long-lasting effect

Many different coaches have had Super Bowl success

In the world of professional sports, nothing is a given. Not when whole leagues are all striving to dominate the championship frontier. Yet there is the old saying that, ‘success breeds success’.

The history of the Detroit Lions since 1957 has been an example of the opposite. Every time we thought these Motor City cats couldn’t get worse, they proved us wrong.

However, the opposite has been true for many franchises. The Dallas Cowboys became a powerhouse in the 1970s and while they have dropped off and needed to rebuild, they have bounced back to win the Super Bowl and generally been competitive ever since their initial rise to power.

The Pittsburgh Steelers were an awful franchise, but again, once they rose to prominence in the 70s they have been able to rebuild for more championship runs. So have the San Francisco 49ers since their turnaround in the early 1980s.

Success breeds success because team ownership gets a feeling for what a successful front office and coaching staff look like. It, therefore, becomes easier to replace those critical pieces like general managers and head coaches over time because ownership has experienced what winners bring to the table.

That doesn’t mean it’s foolproof, but it helps.

So for Sheila to actually get these hirings right is critical not only to build a championship contender but to have the opportunity to have a regime that knows how to win in place and allow her to learn what attributes they possess that make them a winning combination.

This is one of the reasons why when teams like the Cowboys, Steelers, and 49ers have contended they tend to mostly look similar to their franchise’s previous title contenders. The blueprint stays the same by those organizations finding general managers and coaches that bring those same ideals to the table.

Sometimes it works, other times it doesn’t. But when a team has experienced success, they know what characteristics they are looking for in an effort to replicate that success. The biggest problem tends to be when ownership decides to play the role of the smartest person in the room and reinvent the wheel.

The formula that almost all Super Bowl champions have in common is an elite head coach, a franchise quarterback, and an outstanding defense. While that standard is what every NFL team chases, not every championship head coach, defensive scheme, or quarterback are created the same.

That means there are many different coaches and schemes that have led to Super Bowl success. Sheila Ford Hamp now has the opportunity to find one for the Lions and if she’s able to do so, then it could be the start of the Sheila era becoming a very competitive one.