The Detroit Lions looked poised for a trip to the Super Bowl last season.
They were the most dominant team in the NFC, and they looked like the best team in the world when they were at their best.
Now, they return most of their pieces, but the ones they lost might be too valuable to overcome.
That’s why Mike Jones of The Athletic believes they’re due for regression this season:
“Detroit (and Kansas City) posted the best record in the league last season at 15-2, and oddsmakers gave the Lions strong early votes of confidence for Super Bowl contention. But the Lions could take a step back in 2025, and not just because they lost former offensive coordinator Ben Johnson and defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn to head coaching jobs. The retirement of four-time Pro Bowl center Frank Ragnow and free agency departure of right guard Kevin Zeitler also left huge holes in the heart of an offensive line that last season paved the way for one of the top rushing attacks and enabled quarterback Jared Goff to post the second-best passer rating in the league,” Jones wrote.
We’ve seen this type of thing happen way too many times in the past.
A team’s Super Bowl window looks wide open, but they don’t make the most of their best chance.
Of course, that doesn’t mean they won’t be a good team or even a Super Bowl contender, but they enter this season with some major question marks.
Replacing your top two assistants is no easy task, and having to add two new pieces to the offensive line only makes things worse.
That’s similar to what happened to the Philadelphia Eagles after their failed Super Bowl trip when they lost Jonathan Gannon and Shane Steichen.
They failed to be as competitive in the following season.
Hopefully, if that’s the case with the Lions, they will continue to follow the Eagles’ steps, as they got right back to the big game and won the whole thing in the very next campaign.
Dan Campbell’s uber-aggressive coaching style can either lead to big wins or disaster, and now that he doesn’t have Glenn and Johnson by his side, this team is a bit of a question mark.
