You know, it’s not often that I praise or say thank you to any team from Detroit. Living 45 minutes away from The D has been both a blessing and a curse in terms of my sports fandom. I was born in 2001, which is an odd time in terms of Detroit sports. By the time I was actually old enough to comprehend and remember what was going on, most of the teams I cheered for so dearly weren’t very good.
as a young kid, I didn’t get to see the days of the dominant Pistons’ teams with Chauncy Billups, Rip Hamilton, Tayshaun Prince, and Ben Wallace. I caught the tail end of the Red Wings’ playoff streak, at which point they were barely skating in. I was lucky enough to see the Tigers of the early to mid-2010s, but they came up short time and time again.
That brings me to the Lions, the team with one playoff win in 55 years of Super Bowl football. The Texans, a team that didn’t play its first games until 2002, have more playoff victories. I’ve seen them be good enough to make the playoffs, but never good enough to win when they get there. It’s not like they haven’t had the players either. Some speculate it’s the magic of Bobby Layne. They say his curse is the reason the Lions continue to be at the bottom of the league.
The Struggle
I say all this to tell you that I don’t trust Detroit ownership all that much, especially the Ford family. When Martha Ford stepped down in June of 2020 I was elated. I put all the blame on her for hiring Bob Quinn (GM) and Matt Patricia (HC). Her Jim Caldwell hire seemed so good, but he was let go because “9-7 wasn’t good enough” to Bob Quinn, the man that would lead to the downfall. Instead, she let him hire Matt Patricia, the guy who said he wasn’t a bad 4th quarter coach because he “got probably one of the biggest plays in the fourth quarter in the history of the NFL.” If you’re not sure what he’s referring to, it’s the Malcolm Butler endzone interception in Super Bowl. In the 2019 season, the Lions went 3-7-1 in games where they lead or were tied in the fourth.
Obviously, if 9-7 isn’t good enough then neither is 6-10, 3-12-1, or 5-11 right? Well to Bob Quinn it was okay because it was his guy Matty P. The guy Martha Ford put in place to run the team fired a guy for going 9-7 in back-to-back seasons only to replace him with a rocket scientist that has a pencil in his ear.
The New Guard
As I said earlier, Martha Ford stepped down as owner this past summer and was replaced by her daughter Sheila Ford-Hamp. I didn’t like it. I thought the Ford family just needed to sell the team, something they would never do because it’s a gold mine. Sheila gave Quinn and Patricia one more year to at least show they could be competitive. The only requirement they had was to be in the hunt come the last quarter of the season. They couldn’t accomplish it, so true to her word, they were booted to the curb. In their place, Rams Director of College Scouting was hired as GM and Saints Assistant/TE Coach Dan Campbell (also a former Lions TE) as Head Coach.
Thank You
Here’s where I want to give a thank you. As I said, I don’t often praise the teams from Detroit, specifically because of what I’ve witnessed, but to me, this is deserved.
Thank you, Sheila Ford-Hamp. It feels like we as fans are finally being listened to. Brad Holmes feels like a homerun pickup. He was an integral piece to the drafting machine that found Aaron Donal, Todd Gurley, and Cooper Kupp. If he knows anything, it’s how to find talent in the draft, which is something the Lions haven’t been very good at over the years. I have faith that Brad Holmes will give this team all the talent it needs.
Thank you, for finally hiring a Head Coach that embodies this team, this city, and it’s people. If you haven’t seen Dan Campbell’s first presser in Detroit I highly recommend it.
WATCH: All of Brad Holmes’, Dan Campbell’s media appearances (msn.com)
This is the kind of guy we need to run this team. After watching that, I wanted to run through a brick wall. Dan Campbell understands what this city is about. He’s a guy that players want to play for, which is something we didn’t see with the previous HC. I’m fully behind these hires and I hope they work out. This city needs a winner, just like Dan said. This passion, this raw feeling is something we haven’t seen in Detroit for a long time, but it’s what we deserve.
You Don’t Know Detroit
Now I’ve seen a lot of people outside of Detroit making comments about this hire, saying this is a bad look for a head coach or that this guy wants his players to play dirty. Well, you know what, you haven’t been in our shoes. You don’t know what it’s like to be the worst franchise in the NFL since the Super Bowl era began. This is exactly what we need as a fanbase, and I couldn’t be more excited. I wouldn’t mind if there was a Bad Boys feel around this team from now on. Not dirty in the same way, but in between the whistles we hit and we hit hard. I want teams to know what they’re getting into when they play the Detroit Lions: Bad Ass, Gritty, and Passionate.
Once again, just wanted to say thank you for finally getting it right.