Will the Lions Change This Season?

by E.O. aka Rob

I have only seen the Pistons and the Red Wings capture championships in my life time. The Detroit Lions have struggled to emerge from the dark gutters of the league. This season was suppose to be the change. Not since Brett Perriman and Herman Moore both catching a 100 receptions in a single season has there been more pressure directed towards the Lions.

A new stadium, a new coach and a new star rookie reciever have been added in the last two years to try to change everything around for the better. Charles Rogers has become the man who everyone wants to see. Joey Harrington to Az Hakin didn't sell enough tickets so basically the only option for a successful offense was to add a star reciever. Forget about the hole you have at running back. A good reciever will change everything. YEAH RIGHT!

James Stewart's injury problems have plagued him for awhile now. For the entire part of his career before he became a Lion, he was a backup for the Jacksonville Jaguars. This is the formula for winning that everyone thinks can change the entire direction of the franchise. The Lions need time to change and become good.

The two game winning streak that has made the Detroit Lions now 3-6 has been inspired in the oddest way. See Joey Harrington has basically played adequetely. Since he was threatened with being benched he has stepped up. Now like a cat lover who adopts stray cats the Detroit Lions picked up decent veterans who couldn't get signed by anyone. The Lions got inspired play by rookies who were late round picks. Then Otis Smith a man who basically was unwanted by most teams in the League was signed.

The Oakland Raiders were supposed to be the team that needed a rebound, the Lions were the team that would inspire them. Jerry Rice was dominated by Smith. The Lions would not allow anything to go right for the Raiders. Next they shutdown the Bears. Basically right now because of old veterans and fresh rookies the Lions are winning without the star power.

Charles Rogers is out for another week or two. Dre Bly the man who lead the leauge in interceptions is out for a week or two. James Stewart will not be back this year. Now at 3 wins and 6 losses they are at their best start after 9 games since the 2000 season when they were 9-7.

Looking at the facts you can see that if this remains the Lions maybe able to end up around 6-10 and 8-8. This maybe the first time in a few years that the Lions have not had a top 5 pick in the NFL draft. We can only hope that the Lions can allow themselves to have success. So now we can look into the future in the next season and wonder what will happen. Free Agency and next years draft may make this team a winner and not another Cinnciantti Bengals team that is known for losses.