The Bengals and Chargers have won just two games, and the Dolphins five.
Yet each franchise is significantly ahead of the 3-5 Lions because they have a future.
They had enough guts and wisdom to address the elephant in the room: quarterback.
The Bengals moved on from Andy Dalton for Joe Burrow; the Dolphins, Ryan Tannehill ultimately for Tua Tagovailoa and the Chargers, Phillip Rivers for Justin Herbert.
The Lions remain now -- and seemingly forever -- tethered to Matthew Stafford. General manager Bob Quinn bypassed a shot at Tagovailoa and Herbert with the third overall selection in the most recent NFL Draft in favor of cornerback Jeff Okudah.
Herbert and Tagovailoa will face off Sunday in Miami, and in a twisted, typical Lions' way, no town will have more interest than Detroit.
Oh, what could have been...
Quinn chose to extend Stafford's contract in 2017. At the time, it made Stafford the highest paid player in NFL history, and among the world's 10 most-compensated athletes. The resulting financial restraints have held the Lions from moving forward. In 2021, Stafford's salary cap hit is nearly $35 million. For Tagovailoa it is $6.9 million and under $10 million through 2023. For Herbert, who has outperformed Stafford by virtually every metric in 2020, it's $6.1 million next season and less than $9.5 million in 2023.
The Bills are 7-2 with Josh Allen, the Cardinals and Browns 5-3 with Kyler Murray and Baker Mayfield. Patrick Mahomes has won a Super Bowl. Lamar Jackson has garnered an MVP Award.
In the era of salary cap slotting for draft picks, young QB's are obviously the way to go for franchises treading water.
Quinn banked on Stafford as a so-called franchise QB, and he isn't, at least in the sense of Aaron Rodgers, Drew Brees, Tom Brady, Russell Wilson and Ben Roethlisberger.
In fairness to Quinn, Stafford appeared to be rolling at the time of the extension. The Lions made the playoffs in 2016 primarily because of Stafford-led comebacks. He had improved significantly under the guidance of since-fired offensive coordinator Jim Bob Cooter.
It was misleading, and Quinn got caught in a trap. The subsequent overemphasis on offense has hamstrung the Lions' defense. It's definitely among the dominos falling to cause the Lions' current plight, along with Quinn's overall subpar talent evaluation and head coach Matt Patricia's ineptitude.
The idea the Lions can merely trade Stafford for premier draft picks is fading. Is he better than Matt Ryan, Derek Carr and Cam Newton? The market for QBs roughly in the same category is crowded with more supply than demand. The Packers didn't hesitate to draft Jordan Love in the first round, so even Rodgers could even be in play depending on how the Packers perform during the postseason.
In a sense, it's made the Lions' three wins this season, and a cupcake upcoming schedule which includes Washington Sunday, a problem. They aren't going to be in position to land Clemson's Trevor Lawrence, Ohio State's Justin Fields or likely BYU's Zach Wilson.
They could wait another year for North Carolina's Sam Howell or Southern Cal's Kedon Slovis, but it'd just be kicking the inevitable rebuilding can down the road.
In that scenario, Quinn and Patricia would likely be out after this season, with succeeding leadership probably attempting to deal Stafford for what would be perceived as pennies on the dollar.
The oddity of Stafford is he ensures the Lions win a certain number of games, but not close enough to put them in position as legitimate Super Bowl contenders.
Moving on from Stafford would be good for the Lions -- and for Stafford. It has resurrected the careers of similar QB's such as Tannehill and Rivers.
Each time the Lions pass on, or don't have a shot at, high-end young QB's like Tagovailoa and Herbert for far less cap hits than Stafford, they just fall further behind.
Sunday in Miami will only accent the painfully obvious.
