Lions GM Brad Holmes has declined to put a timeline on the team's rebuild from the moment the arrived. But at his end-of-season press conference Tuesday, Holmes said, "You could make a case that we're ahead of schedule."
The case: the Lions just won eight of their last 10 games to darn near make the playoffs a year after going 3-13-1, they went 5-1 in the NFC North and they have tons of draft capital to bolster a talented young roster this offseason.
"There's so many things to like about the Lions," three-time NFL Executive of the Year Scott Pioli said Wednesday. "I like the way they've built this team, I like what they've done with their picks, I like the way that they've developed their players. Brad Holmes is doing everything he needs to do to bring in the right type of players for Dan Campbell. They are an emotionally tough team, a physically tough team, they meet the image of the head coach."
At the start of next season, there's a good chance the Lions will be favored to win the NFC North. They were the only team in the division this season that finished with a positive point differential. Whereas the Vikings are due for regression, the Packers might be replacing a Hall of Fame quarterback -- and went 8-9 this season even if he returns -- and the Bears are arguably the worst team in the NFL, the Lions are clearly on the rise.
They have their sights set on their first division title next season since 1993, when the NFC North was the NFC Central.
"Whether you stay in Green Bay or not, Aaron Rodgers, (the NFC North) ain't going through you," former Jets and Bills head coach Rex Ryan said this week on ESPN. "To me, that's the other thing you gotta think about if you're Aaron Rodgers: your divison is not going through Green Bay. It's going through Detroit for the next five years. So you gotta sit back and see that, too. Do you really want to face that again? I don't know."
The Lions beat the Packers twice this season and picked off Rodgers four times, three by rookie safety Kerby Joseph. They may have sent him into retirement after ending Green Bay's playoff hopes in the season finale at Lambeau Field, a sliver of payback for years and years of torment. Either way, the Lions sent a loud and clear message this year that things are changing in Detroit.
"We're just getting started and we're just going to keep going up from here," said Holmes. "Last year a foundation was laid, a culture was put in place, but this year, I think the standard is set now. And that standard is not going to be compromised, no matter what."
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