BY George Eichorn
The Detroit Lions have turned the Motor City upside down with a giant dose of admiration and excitement following their 12-5 season in 2023 while just missing the Super Bowl. Matthew Stafford and the Los Angeles Rams provide the opposition opening night, September 8 at Ford Field (8:20 p.m.) in front of a national NBC audience.
General manager Brad Holmes and coach Dan Campbell start season four together with the Lions. The sellout crowds at the stadium and training camp at team headquarters in Allen Park ignited the fan base like never before. Sports Illustrated’s NFL season preview had the Lions on its cover as the writers predicted the club would win the Super Bowl.
Ticket sales, team apparel sales and player appearance requests are through the roof and rightfully so. Detroit has never made the Super Bowl, a huge downer for one of the oldest NFL franchises. The team’s last title was in 1957 – long before the Super Bowl era and long before the majority of fans were even born!
Defending the NFC North will be no easy task this season. Green Bay, Chicago and Minnesota all made upgrades to their team. Yet the Lions are the cream of the corp – in my estimation – to win the division and also the National Football Conference. They’ve become the media darlings.
Having lost to San Francisco in the NFC Conference Championship Game, 34-31, Detroit learned a valuable lesson: you must play all four quarters very well in order to advance to the Super Bowl. The Lions were outclassed in the fourth quarter and they appear determined to right that wrong.
Lions owner Sheila Ford Hamp has allowed Holmes and Campbell to land the right veterans and draft the necessary talent to contend for a Super Bowl. She rewarded Holmes and Campbell with contract extensions.
Holmes made sure the team’s core star players were also rewarded. Quarterback Jared Goff inked a four-year, $212 million contract extension with $170 million guaranteed. Obtained in a 2021 trade Holmes made that sent QB Matthew Stafford to the Rams, Goff is enthusiastically accepted by his Lions teammates and the fans. Chants welcomed Goff at Detroit’s wildly successful NFL Draft last April in Campus Martius and Hart Plaza.
Also re-signed are wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown and offensive linemen Taylor Decker, Graham Glasgow and Penei Sewell. The Lions added several NFL veterans including QB Jake Fromm, WR Allen Robinson II and Isaiah Williams and Tre’Quan Smith, TE Parker Hesse, DT D.J. Reader, DE Marcus Davenport, LB Trevor Nowaske and Ben Niemann, CB Carlton Davis III and Amik Robertson and LS Hogan Hatten.
Drafted rookies hoping to contribute are CB Terrion Arnold, CB Ennis Rakestraw Jr., OT Giovanni Manu, RB Sione Vaki, DT Mekhi Wingo and OG Christian Mahogany. Kicker Jake Bates was signed from the UFL Michigan Panthers but has no NFL experience.Injuried Lions include K Micael Badgley, DE John Cominsky, WR Antoine Green and Tre’Quan Smith, DT Brodric Martin and CB Emmanuel Mosely and DT D.J. Reader.
Lions have unveiled new uniforms ahead of this season with Honolulu blue uniforms as their primary home jerseys and the white uniforms their primary away jersey. The team has also introduced a black jersey.
I am predicting a 13-4 record this season and a trip to the Super Bowl in New Orleans next February where they will defeat the Baltimore Ravens.
Reach George Eichorn at geichorn@yahoo.com or @Sandgsports99 on X (formerly Twitter). Order his book:
Detroit’s Sports Broadcasters: On the Air: Eichorn, George B, Introduction Harwell, Ernie.
