The Lions hired former All-Pro linebacker Chris Spielman, who will be inducted into the team's Pride of the Lions this weekend, to help fix the franchise. At the very least, to reverse the spin of the earth. With his broad shoulders, Spielman is trying.
"It hasn’t gone as fast as we liked, but it does take time," Spielman said Friday on the Stoney & Jansen Show. "The beautiful thing that I love is when you walk through this building, man, there’s nobody feeling sorry for themselves or woe is me or we’re the nice, cute, little story around the NFL (because), ‘Oh, they try hard.' Nobody cares about that. We all care about winning, and winning will come."
Spielman is everywhere in Allen Park. He's the first one on the practice field almost every day, setting up cones and equipment as the players trickle out of the locker room. One of his first tasks as special assistant to owner Sheila Ford Hamp was leading the Lions' search for new leadership last offseason. He steered the organization toward Dan Campbell and Brad Holmes as head coach and GM.
Despite the team's 0-7 start, Spielman believes strongly in both of them. He said Campbell reminds him of some of the "great leaders" he came across in his playing days, "these special people in your life" like Hall of Fame coach Marc Levy who led the Bills to four straight AFC titles in the '90s.
"The fact that he doesn’t flinch," Spielman said. "The thing that people don’t know about Dan, and I hope he has shown this, is he’ll do whatever it takes to win a football game. He is really, really smart, in my opinion. He’s smart in game management, he’s smart in having an influence on the offense, he will create and take shots and take chances and do what he has to do to win.
"And the beautiful thing about this man, when you lose -- and obviously everybody knows where we stand right now -- he’s not walking around the building with his head down, woe is me, ‘Oh, we should’ve gotten that.' He walks down these hallways with purpose, with his head up, with, ‘We’re getting better. It’s going to happen. And when it turns, it's going to be really good and it isn’t going to turn for two weeks, or three weeks. When it turns, it’s going to be for sustained success over a period of time.' And I truly believe that."
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We've heard these words before. Empty promises are part of the Lions' fabric, torn at the seams. Just a few years ago, Bob Quinn and Matt Patricia were supposed to reproduce the Patriots in Detroit. (Hey, they kind of did.) Why should Campbell and Holmes be different? Why does Spielman believe so fiercely in a rookie head coach and a rookie GM?
"Well, I look at what Brad Holmes has done," Spielman said, pointing directly to the Lions' rookies. "Levi Onwuzurike, No. 75, when you see how he’s coming. I don't know if you saw this, but last Sunday he took an offensive guard and threw him actually three yards across the ball and basically made a tackle with the offensive guard’s body. The continued growth of Alim McNeill. We talked about Jerry (Jacobs), A.J. Parker, another rookie free agent coming in and making an impact. The impact of Derrick Barnes when his opportunities come.
"So you see that the guys who are in change, the leadership, they understand and know what they’re doing and how to build it. Right now I know the record does not reflect it, but when it turns, it’s not only going to turn for a year or two. It’s going to turn for sustained success because of what the culture is, what the belief is and the standard set by Sheila and all of us and we’re all living to it."
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Spielman, 56, will be inducted into the Lions' ring of honor during a halftime ceremony of Sunday's game against the Eagles. Despite the way Hamp was received by the fans -- uhm, not well -- during a similar ceremony for Calvin Johnson last month, Spielman said he "would be honored if she would be on the field with me." (He said "it was inspiring how she handled" the boos as she tried to introduce the greatest receiver in franchise history.) Hamp, team president Rod Wood and others surprised Spielman with his honor last week by having him read the accomplishments of "one of the greatest Lions ever" until he realized they were his own.
He said "it hit me" when he listed off the 1992 NFC Championship Game, because he played in it -- and "because we were so close" to reaching the Super Bowl "so I still live with that freaking nightmare." The Lions were blown out by the Redskins after beating the Cowboys in the divisional round, which remains their only playoff win in the Super Bowl era. Spielman teared up when he realized what was happening and said "the first thing I thought about was my family."
After thinking about his current wife, Carrie, he said he "thought about my daughter after two weeks on this job when I went home for the weekend and she said, 'Dad, I’ve never seen you so happy. Why are you?' And I said to her, 'Because I’m finally doing something where winning and losing is on the line again.' And she said, "Yeah, I get that.'
"Then I thought about my late wife, Stephanie, (who passed away of breast cancer in 2009), because she was a part of my first football life. She was a big part of it. Without her since high school and the love and support she gave me, I wouldn’t have had the success I had as a player. And now, by God’s grace, I’ve been married again to another wonderful, tough-ass woman and without her love and support, I couldn’t take this journey that I’ve already embarked on.
"I thought of all that, and all my teammates, of course. Because in the greatest team game in the world, nothing can be accomplished without your teammates. Nothing."