The Detroit Lions were widely praised for being one of the better stories of the NFL season, as a franchise that had not won a playoff game since 1991 nearly went to the Super Bowl.
Lions general manager Brad Holmes, however, is ready to ensure that one narrative around the team does not become permanent.
Holmes had a message for Lions fans at his season-ending press conference Monday. He wanted to make clear that this was only the beginning for the franchise, that more success was expected, and that this is not some one-off Cinderella story.
“What I want to tell, really, our fans, is it’s only going to get better. We’re only going to get better,” Holmes said. “I don’t want anybody to think that this was a one-shot Cinderella magical journey that just happened. No, it’s real. This is exactly what was supposed to happen.
“I understand that based on history, from what’s happened in the past, I understand when you have a season like this, it’s easy to feel like this was kind of a one-shot, magical, lucky, cute story, which I’m tired of hearing. It was none of that. It’s easy to think that, but no. Every move that me and Dan (Campbell) make, it has been made to sustain what we are building.”
Detroit’s season ended in devastating fashion, but fans will be pleased to hear this. The big thing is that Holmes can back it up, since the Lions were one of the NFL’s best teams in the second half of the 2022 season as well. Their successful 2023 campaign did not simply pop up out of nowhere.
The Lions do have some big decisions to make this offseason. However, there is no reason they cannot continue their success as long as they do not let the NFC Championship haunt them.
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