For decades, the Detroit Lions were the NFL’s punching bag. They were the team everyone expected to lose, often seen as the butt of jokes, and pretty much every season came with some level of dysfunction. But guess what? That’s no longer the case. With a 9-1 record this season and a performance that’s been consistently strong since about halfway through 2022, the Lions have transformed into a legitimate contender.
And while the Lions’ success is something most fans (especially Detroit faithful) are loving, it’s also something that’s causing a lot of NFL analysts to lose their minds. The Lions, it seems, just can’t win without some level of backlash.
Take, for example, some of the criticism they’ve faced for doing exactly what good teams are supposed to do against bad teams: beat them… and beat them handily. This season, the Lions have taken down struggling teams with rare flair, but apparently, some people think they should apologize for making bad teams look bad. It’s a strange line of criticism, but hey, when you’re a team that’s been down for so long, people will find a reason to dismiss you no matter what you do.
Enter Nick Wright.
Earlier this week on FS1’s First Things First, co-host Nick Wright made a controversial statement about the Lions and their quarterback, Jared Goff, while trying to dismiss the idea that Detroit could be the best team in the NFL.
“I don’t think you can be the best team in the league when you have a civilian at quarterback,” Wright said. “I can’t say a team with Jared Goff at quarterback is better than the Chiefs or the Bills. I can’t. I won’t. In the modern NFL, I think it’s very hard to win three straight playoff games with a guy, even if he’s a good guy, at quarterback. That’s what I feel they have. You can be mad. That’s my opinion on the Lions.”
Let that sink in for a minute. Wright’s reasoning boils down to the idea that because Goff doesn’t fit the “elite” quarterback mold, the Lions can’t possibly be the NFL’s best. A pretty dismissive take considering Goff has been playing some of the best football of his career this season and the Lions are 9-1.
But it didn’t stop there.
Chris Broussard, another co-host on the same show, backed up Wright’s sentiment, taking the baton and adding his own dismissive comments about the Lions’ offense.
“That’s utterly ridiculous,” Broussard said. “And I mean that. I don’t mean it’s a little bit of an overstatement, it’s utterly ridiculous, cause I have a graphic too.”
Yes, a graphic. Apparently, Broussard’s graphic of all-time great offenses was supposed to convince everyone that the Lions’ offense doesn’t even come close to historical greatness.
“You look at the top 5 on the left side,” Broussard explained, “everyone of them — Broncos, Peyton Manning, Patriots, Tom Brady, Chiefs, Patrick Mahomes, Packers, Aaron Rodgers.” And the list goes on.
Essentially, Broussard’s point was that the Lions could never be considered one of the greatest offenses in NFL history without having Hall of Fame-caliber players at key positions. Sure, that’s fair to some extent. But here’s the thing: the Lions’ skill players are young, and many are still in the early stages of their careers. Amon-Ra St. Brown, Jahmyr Gibbs, and the rest of Detroit’s offensive weapons might not be Hall of Famers right now — but they’re showing signs of greatness. To write them off so early is a bit premature, don’t you think?
Of course, Wright chimed in again to further bolster Broussard’s argument, saying, “Every single one of those teams had a first-ballot, no doubt Hall of Fame skill position guy or quarterback except for the ’83 Washington team, which had one of the greatest offensive lines in the history of the league.”
While it’s true that the Lions’ offensive weapons might not be “Hall of Fame locks” yet, they are still very much on the rise. And maybe, just maybe, they’re on their way to creating a legacy of their own.
So, to be clear, it’s too early to declare this year’s Lions offense as one of the best in NFL history. But the constant skepticism from analysts like Wright and Broussard seems a little out of place. The Lions are playing good football, and their success — however it’s achieved — deserves some respect. But as long as there are doubters, the Lions will just have to keep proving them wrong.
the talking suits have been dogging Goff ever since the bozos running the Rams disrepoected Goff, now wioth Goff putting egg all over their faces they just don’t to asmit that the Rams traded the better QB to the Lions, eatting crow never tastes good