Detroit Lions: Trenches may not be flashy, but necessary

Lions fans get it

To the credit of many Lions fans, they get it. They understand the difference in what Brad Holmes and Dan Campbell are doing. However, there are still those out there that don’t get it or simply don’t want to.

Every Lions fan wants to skip the growing pains and just start winning next season. This is certainly understandable considering how little hope this franchise has given its long-suffering fans in the last 60 plus years.

And while it would be a real kind of justice for Lions fans to get the chance to enjoy a worst to first turnaround, those only happen under certain circumstances. The kind of circumstances where the team was more talented than their record and with the right offseason additions combusted into a contender.

The Lions are not that team. They have downgraded at quarterback from Matthew Stafford to Jared Goff and the receiving corps is a shell of what it was last season.

However, Goff had a history of playing well when the Rams provided him with a consistent ground game. The Lions have a talented left side of the line and added an incredibly talented tackle to man the right side, at least for now.

The backfield highlights some sparkling players with D’Andre Swift who flashed tremendous talent last season. The addition of productive Jamaal Williams from Green Bay gives Detroit a solid one-two punch.

The elements are in place to allow Jared Goff to have the type of productive rushing attack that has helped him contribute to a winner in Los Angeles.

Now the other side of the dime is that the receiving corps has to prove itself, but if Tyrell Williams stays healthy, Breshad Perriman can be consistent, and newly drafted Amon-Ra St. Brown can contribute early, then maybe the offense has a chance to be decent.

Winning is a lot to ask for in year one of a rebuild, but being cohesive, having good effort, and showing some promise while winning a game or two is a good starting point.