Detroit Lions perspective: Different is good

The Detroit Lions have struggled to achieve excellence since their glory days of the 1950’s. During that time, they have actually excelled at one thing.

The Detroit Lions have been consistent. Consistently mediocre.

Sure, there have been flashes of brilliance such as January 5th, 1992 when Willie Green caught two touchdown passes from Erik Kramer and Barry Sanders added a sweet 47-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter to crush the Dallas Cowboys, earning them the right to play the Washington Redskins in the NFC Championship Game.

Likewise, there have been record-setting seasons where the first winless season cemented the phrase, “Same Ol’ Lions” or, “SOL” for short.

Fair or not, that moniker tends to pop up on social media faster than dandelions in your fresh-cut lawn after a spring thunderstorm whenever our heroes falter.

SOL.

Personally, I despise that turn of phrase.

First, it judges people today on standards in a past that they had nothing to do with.

Second, that expression disregards any changes or improvements that have actually occurred with the team.

Third, that frame of mind shuts down rational dialogue that is the best part of any fans experience. We all want to have the ability to describe what we like about our favorite team. Blanket negative predetermination quenches passion.

After all, this is the best time of year for every NFL fan’s experience. The NFL Scouting Combine is just around the corner. Free agency and The NFL Draft all contribute to the belief that your team will improve this year.

This is the season of Hope.

In order to actually experience that Hope, the mistakes and problems of last year must be improved upon.

Things must be different.

In the movie, Hitch, Will Smith said, “Different’s good.” But the best-known movie line in this context is Bill Murray in Groundhog Day.

“Anything different is good.”

If you are to critique the Detroit Lions organization from the time of their last NFL Championship in 1958 until today, you will notice several consistent elements.

Being competitive financially was always the team’s primary goal. Performance on the field was always secondary.

Second, winning a championship was never a team-wide goal. Of course, players and coaches spoke about wanting to go to the Super Bowl. The team’s administration was simply not on the same page, as a general rule.

Take a look at the history:

1957. Won NFL Championship.

1958 to 1966. Edwin Anderson served as Partial Owner/President/General Manager. Sports Illustrated ran an article in February 1961 that in essence identified the front office struggle for power behind the scenes through that time. Anderson’s teams had a 59% winning percentage with zero division wins.

1967 to 1988. Russ Thomas served as General Manager. As a left tackle, he was pretty decent. He played from 1946 to 1949. Thomas made All-Pro (second team) in 1947. The problem is that the Lions only finished one season where they weren’t in the last place in their division. The New York Times ran an article in August 1989 trumpeting “Change!” and said, “Thomas, 65 years old, has served the Lions in various capacities for 43 years.” There is a strong sentiment that his tenure was more loathed than that of Matt Millen. Sad for the younger fans to believe, but true.

1989 to 2000. Chuck Schmidt. In 1989, Schmidt was named the Vice President of Finance. Then he was appointed General Manager. His talent was saving money for the organization, not building and maintaining a winning football team. Schmidt at least had the luxury of Barry Sanders until Sanders realized that the organization was not dedicated to winning football and retired.

2001 to 2008. Matt Millen was a successful player as part of four teams that went to the Super Bowl, selected as an All-Pro twice and was picked for the Pro Bowl once. He then went on to have a very successful broadcasting career. Then William Clay Ford mistook that broadcast talent for competency as an NFL general manager.

2008 to 2015. Martin Mayhew took over from Millen as Interim General Manager at the end of September 2008. He took on the full-time role as general manager along with Senior VP. That transitioned to Executive Director of Football Operations until his dismissal in the midst of the 2015 season. Although he presided over that ill-fated first winless season, Mayhew was able to raise the Lions from the worst team in the NFL back to the ranks of the mediocre.

Mayhew had a lot going for him. MLive’s Kyle Meinke wrote an extensive and informative article about him here. Mayhew had flaws that lead to average teams during his tenure (including two playoff appearances, both losses). Despite that, I believe that he was the Lions best general manager during the 57 years following their last Championship. By far.

I believe that Mayhew really did attempt to place winning ahead of strictly financial needs. Still, he was inexperienced. He inherited his support staff, scouting structure, and personnel infrastructure from prior administrations.

2016 to present. Bob Quinn.

Quinn has openly stated that winning a championship is the goal of the Detroit Lions.

That is different.

Quinn overhauled the team’s entire scouting staff and tasked them with specific parameters with which to judge talent.

Again, different.

Bob Quinn has already shown the ability to obtain meaningful and valuable snaps from lower round drafted players and even undrafted free agents (see Jamal Agnew, Anthony Zettel). He has been timely in obtaining free agents that made the team better and filled holes (see Golden Tate and Marvin Jones). He has retained talent on the roster that was important to keep (see Glover Quin, Matthew Stafford, and Ezekiel Ansah).

Different, different and, uh…different.

Finally, Quinn’s displayed a method of selection of a head coach that meshes with the front office. The selection of Matt Patricia to carry that singular goal of a championship to each and every assistant coach and player is definitely different.

Next: See what Quinn, Patricia had to say at the NFL Combine

Make no mistake: The Detroit Lions have not seen these elements as part of their team for decades, if ever. The processes that lead to each game’s results are vastly different from what the Lions have displayed in the past. There is no “SOL”.

And as Bill Murray said, “Anything different is good.”