This season didn’t end the way we wanted, but the Detroit Lions will be back.
Let’s set the table a bit here. In 1990, I was born into this world a Detroit Lions fan. Since I can remember, I have loved this city and this team with every part of my soul. Early on, it was fun for a kid that was into sports to be a Lions fan in the 90s.
Detroit had a player by the name of Barry Sanders, who routinely did things that made you question if he was of this world or not. And for the most part, teams in that era of Lions football were competitive, with the early portion of the decade being the most successful.
Chances are you if you are reading this, you know where things turned from there. Sanders retired just before training camp in 1999, nine-year-old Morgan was absolutely devastated, and former general manager Matt Millen ushered in an especially dreadful era of football in Detroit that culminated in the infamous (and winless) 2008 season.
From that pivotal moment in franchise history and through the 2020 season, the organization evolved over time. It was no longer considered a laughingstock—save for that period from 2018 to November 2020 that we will be skipping over for the sake of our sanity. Some of the old ghosts were now gone, but they never came particularly close to building a sustainable winner. One-and-done playoff appearances in 2011, 2014, and 2016 gave fans a tiny taste of the postseason that left everyone wanting more.
Then, in January of 2021, everything changed in Detroit. Thankfully, owner Sheila Hamp decided she was going to do things her own way. She wanted a collaborative approach to building a team, and assembled a group of really smart people to help her find the right candidates. After the thorough search was complete, Brad Holmes was hired as general manager six days before Dan Campbell was named head coach, and together the two would do what some believed to be nearly impossible—turn the Lions into a winner.
And to make thing even more impressive, they have done it the right way, tearing what was once a roster almost completely devoid of top-end talent down to the studs, and rebuilding through the NFL Draft .
3-13-1 in 2021 led to 9-8 in 2022. 12-5 in 2023, 15-2 in 2024. The progress is evident, and the proof, as they say, is in the banana pudding. In the time since they took over, Holmes and Campbell have accomplished what they set out to do when they were first hired in Detroit: sustained, year-to-year success.
“Every move that me and Dan make, it has been made to sustain what we are building,” said Holmes during his year-end press conference following the 2023 season. “Every single move, and I would say every single move we make and every single move we do not make, is to sustain what we have been building.”
That kind of success comes with a territory, and as a result—we as Lions fans are dealing with a new, largely unfamiliar type of pain. The type where a team’s year can come to an end in a matter of minutes, no matter how many wins and records were racked up during the regular season.
First there was the second-half collapse during the NFC Championship game in 2023, then the gut-wrenching loss to the Washington Commanders in the Divisional Round of this year’s playoffs. For me, personally, the loss in the Conference Championship still stings more, if only because we were just one half from the Super Bowl .
However, don’t get it twisted—that loss to Washington was brutal. The city had been brimming with excitement for months, fully invested in their football team. The Lions had never hosted a Championship game, and after securing the NFC’s number one seed, they were just one win away from making that happen.
The mood inside of Ford Field during that night was a strange one. For a while, there was a sense of disbelief blended with a thick layer of anxiety that hung around like a fog inside the stadium. “How can this be what happens after this magical season they have had? Is this really how the year is going to end?”
Personally, it just wasn’t the way I envisioned the game playing out. It felt like being kicked in the teeth on your birthday. Not a lot of fun and certainly not expected.
Fortunately, after giving myself plenty of time to think more rationally, it got me thinking about the things I used to yearn for as a fan. In the past, I remember watching as other teams and their fans geared up for playoff runs, feeling envious of their excitement. Meanwhile, we were once again stuck looking at the same old mock drafts we had already been looking at for weeks, dreaming of one day being the team that everyone was talking about come playoff time.
Sure, losing those high-stakes games sure would stink, but it would be worth it, right?
Without a single doubt, 100%—it’s worth it. As I mentioned earlier, it is a different kind of pain when your team loses in the playoffs. Back in the day, when seasons would be wrapped up after the final whistle of Week 17, it felt scheduled. Safe. But in those days, we never experienced anything close to the joy that last year’s playoff run produced. I will never forget the feeling after the final whistle of the win over the Los Angeles Rams in the 2023 Wild Card round. Tears were shed, pictures were taken—it was a glorious night.
On the other side of things, nothing about the playoffs feels safe, nor should it. Win and advance. Book those plane tickets or fire up those mock drafts. That is the beauty of the game, as well as the maddening aspect of it all. Thirty-one out of 32 teams end their seasons with some variation of the same foul taste in their mouths, besides a few specific scenarios like the way the Lions ended their 2022 season.
And for those teams that make a run in the playoffs, only to have the rug snatched out from under them late in January, it is especially painful. To those fanbases of teams that are consistently in it, year-in and year-out—respect. Because this might take some time to get used to.
Does it ever get easier? I doubt it, and at this point, I think I’d rather not know.
What I do know is this: the Lions will be back in 2025. And in 2026, and the next year, and the one after that. Because this organization is built for it. Thanks to Holmes and his staff, the salary cap is in a healthy place, and they have their draft picks in hand. From Holmes and Campbell at the top, to pillars of the roster such as All-Pro right tackle Penei Sewell and All-Pro receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown, the right people are in Detroit.
And if you are sweating the coordinators leaving town for their own head coaching opportunities, just listen to what St. Brown had to say on the latest episode of his podcast.
“We got Dan. To me, he is one of the best coaches in the league,” said St. Brown of his coach. “From leadership, I mean, he is smart. I feel like some people don’t know how smart he really is. The dude knows Xs and Os—defense, offense, special teams. He wants to win as bad as the players, if not more. He is the ultimate competitor. As long as we got Dan, man—we’re good.”
So buckle up, Lions fans. This is likely not going to be the last time we experience this kind of pain in the playoffs. It simply comes with a territory when your team is always in the mix and vying to win a championship. And when the inevitable pain does strike again in the future, just remember how you used to feel prior to the arrival of Holmes and Campbell. Know that the pain is worth the potential reward that may be on the horizon for this team and its fans.
“When you have the right guys and you’re made the right way, failure only makes you stronger,” said Campbell during his Monday press conference following the loss to Washington. “You only come back better, I believe that, and unfortunately I’ve had a ton of those. But man, I think it makes – God, it makes you hungry.”
“We’re going to come back stronger, we’re going to learn from this, and it’s just more fuel on the fire is what it is.”
We are right there with you, Dan, and just like the head coach of our team, I already can’t wait for next year.
Always and forever—let’s go Lions.