Our standard has always been about winning, man. “We’ve got to be thinking that way and everything we do has to be with that type of purpose. “It’s about raising expectations, you know?” Campbell said at the owners’ meetings in March. Coach Matt LaFleur’s bunch has some intriguing young talent on both sides of the ball, but it could take time to get things going again.īaumgardner: These are not the Same Old Lions. Even with Rodgers in the fold last season, the Lions were 2-0 versus the Packers, including a win at Lambeau Field in Week 18 that eliminated Green Bay from the playoffs. Quarterback Aaron Rodgers is out Jordan Love, largely unproven, is in. The Packers, once the gold standard of the division, are retooling. It’s possible - if not likely - the Vikings come back down to earth. They’ve since lost key members of that unit, while hoping defensive coordinator Brian Flores is enough to turn things around. Their defense allowed the second-most yards per game (trailing only the Lions) and the third-most points. Minnesota got it done by going 11-0 in one-score games, setting an NFL record in the process. Those 13 wins were accompanied by a negative point differential. But the underlying numbers could reveal a team poised for regression. One would think the Vikings, winners of the NFC North in 2022 with a 13-4 record, would be the team to hunt. But the Bears are still in rebuild mode - much like the Lions this time a year ago. Third-year QB Justin Fields has more weapons than he’s had before. They added wide receiver DJ Moore, linebacker Tremaine Edmunds, offensive lineman Darnell Wright and others this offseason. Perhaps more than any team in the division, the Bears are set up for improvement. The Bears are coming off a 3-14 season, losers of 10 straight on their way to the NFL’s worst record. This is perhaps the most wide-open the NFC North has been in some time. Detroit plays in a division that is, on paper, there for the taking. The buzz surrounding the Lions has almost as much to do with the landscape around them as it does the team in place. Of course we’ve got good players, we’ve got good coaches, we’ve got a good team, but we haven’t done anything and we have a lot of work to do.” “I think it’s funny to me that, like, you go 9-8, you don’t make the playoffs and now you’re all of a sudden a favorite. “The so-called ‘hype train’ is - I don’t know,” quarterback Jared Goff said. Loved how we ended the season, but I didn’t think it (the hype) would be to this magnitude.” “For us, let’s call it the ‘hype train’ … it was a little surprising to me this past offseason just because we didn’t make the playoffs. They deserve hope, so that’s really good,” Lions GM Brad Holmes said. “I’m just happy for the fans and for the city of Detroit, because they deserve that. So while Lions players and coaches hear and appreciate the love from onlookers, you’ll have to excuse them if they don’t quite understand it. Only five players on the team were alive the last time that happened. The Lions, meanwhile, went 9-8 last season, missed the playoffs for the sixth year in a row and haven’t won their division since 1993. Along the way, the Minnesota Vikings and Chicago Bears have taken turns rising atop the division. The Green Bay Packers have run this division for so long, uplifted by the play of back-to-back Hall of Fame quarterbacks. This is, admittedly, new territory for the franchise. Behind the braintrust that turned the Lions into NFC North favorites
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