As a fellow Lions fan, I feel that this hurts badly. Even though it happened 2 weeks ago it still feels so fresh and new. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, let me fill you in: #1 The Detroit Lions unfortunately lost in the divisional round 45-31 against the #6 Washington Commanders. Now let’s get back to it. Even though This was a disappointing loss, we still need to look back at how good of a season we had. Heck, we were 15-2! That has never happened in any Lions fan’s lifetime. We also broke many franchise records, like most PPG (points per game) and most touchdowns by any running back (Jahmyr Gibbs). So this season was still a big W, but what about next season? After all, we’re still awaiting a Lions Super Bowl run, so what is next? And are we still contenders? Well, let’s break it down.
The Lions lost both coordinators right after the heartbreaking loss to Washington (Ben Johnson and Aaron Glenn). This is bad because they were the lifeblood of the offense and defense. So who are they going to hire as their new ones? Well, they just hired 2 new coordinators: John Morton (Offensive Coordinator) and Kelvin Sheppard (Defensive Coordinator). Now, John Morton used to be at the Lions and was a very good passing game coach at the Broncos. This was an exciting hire because he is familiar with the Lion’s offense and can easily replicate it. Now, Kelvin Sheppard is a different story. He was a linebackers coach for the Lions and got promoted to Defensive Coordinator. We do not know much about how he will run his defense, but we do know that he is a familiar face and knows the players and coaches very well.
We can only hope that the Lions can be just as good as this year, let alone better. I do think we will make the playoffs, but it would be a stretch to say we would get the #1 seed. There are also more things to be sad about as a Lions fan. First of all, we have a lot of contracts we need to extend. Now, normally this wouldn’t be a bad thing, except for the fact that the Lions only have $44 million in cap space. here is a list of the players who need an extension:
QB Teddy Bridgewater
WR Tim Patrick
WR Allen Robinson
OT Dan Skipper
RG Kevin Zeitler
OG Netane Muti
EDGE Marcus Davenport
EDGE Al-Quadin Muhammad
DL Levi Onwuzurike
DL John Cominsky
DL Jonah Williams
DL Pat O’Connor
NT Kyle Peko
LB Derrick Barnes
LB Ben Niemann
LB Ezekiel Turner
CB Carlton Davis
CB Kindle Vildor
CB Khalil Dorsey
CB Emmanuel Moseley
DB Ifeatu Melifonwu
K Michael Badgley
A lot of these signings are no-brainers, like Carlton Davis, Derrick Barnes, Melifonwu, Dan Skipper, and Kevin Zeitler. But one person I’m worried about is Tim Patrick. Now Tim Patrick had an overall average season, with 33 REC, 44 TGTS, 394 YDS, 11.4 Ypc, and 3 TD. So overall a pretty underwhelming season. But, he was a good WR3 option and showed up in big division games. But in my opinion, since we got Ronnie Bell signed, he shouldn’t be a main priority. Now, obviously, we should sign Carlton Davis, Derrick Barnes, Melifonwu, Dan Skipper, and Kevin Zeitler, but we should also be careful about our spending since we have some other backups to worry about too. Especially after this season with all the injuries we had.
I do think we should anticipate next season, but don’t be betting all your money on the Lions winning the bowl. After all, we’ve only been relevant for 3 years (2 & 1/2 if you only count the second half of the 2022 season). Hopefully, we will be even better next year. Just please fellow Lions fans… stay strong. A Super Bowl will come eventually, after all. And please don’t clown Goff, he tried. If anything, you should be clowning our defense and both our coordinators. Thank you and always remember: we were 0-16 once, and I would rather be in these times than those times.