2010 Detroit Lions: The Pilot

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The Detroit Lions are experiencing what I believe (or at least, hope) are growing pains. When you’ve had arguably the worst professional sports franchise of the past decade, there is inevitably going to be a losing culture or mentality—whatever you want to call it. But if you had just awoken from a 10 year coma and had no prior knowledge to the Lions’ inferiority, you would have thought they looked like a pretty solid football team on Sunday at Green Bay. They moved the ball well, had a balanced attack, forced some turnovers, got pressure on the quarterback and played good man coverage.

I know the Lions played a Super Bowl contending team on the road, where they have lost 23 straight games. But the problem isn’t a “going” problem, it’s a “growing” problem. The team has talented pieces in place—everyone can see that. You don’t have to be Tom Kowalski to see that the team is clearly more talented than it has been the past two seasons. The Lions, while battling injuries at key positions, are in the process of learning to get over that hump and win those close games.

I liken the 2010 Detroit Lions to successful sitcoms, such as Seinfeld and It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia in their first year. Have you ever gone back retroactively and watched the first episode of those two shows? They were a little awkward and clunky. George and Jerry’s character’s neurotic rants went on a little too long, Sweet Dee was kind of just “there” and didn’t do a whole lot, and you couldn’t really get a firm grasp on Mac and Dennis’ characters. They didn’t quite have a firm grip on where they were going with the shows. But nonetheless, they were still funny and you could definitely see they had potential of being very good, smart shows. They just needed the networks to give them a chance to blossom and take off.

That’s what we need to do with this year’s Lions. I know it feels like, yet again, another punch to the stomach starting the season 0-4. And I know that “close” isn’t much of a consolation in a W’s and L’s league. If the Lions win four games this season (which I think is on the low end), we will be making definite progress. The network, who in this case is the fan base, needs to allow this team figure itself out this season.

And remember this, too: Seinfeld and It’s Always Sunny wouldn’t be the shows they are without the additions they made. If you recall, Elaine’s character wasn’t in the pilot episode of Seinfeld. She was written into the second episode, and obviously for the rest of the series, because the show lacked a solid female lead. In It’s Always Sunny, Frank didn’t appear until season two. The show lacked star power, and Danny DeVito’s kids were a fan of the first season, so he agreed to join the cast. Had he not, the show may never have picked up because of its lack of notoriety.

So consider this the Lions’ pilot season. They’ve got potential. They have a good cast and will do some promising things. But they’ll also make you feel awkward and uncomfortable. They’ll go through their growing pains and will start to get a feel for this whole winning thing as the season progresses. And then next season, we’ll add our Elaine and Frank and become real primetime players. Because if we don’t, we could end up like the Friends’ spinoff, Joey. Yikes.