Why is everyone acting so surprised that the Detroit Lions won yesterday? I am so pleased I am almost giddy but I am definitely not surprised. I have expected this all along, winning was only a matter of time. Sure, the Lions haven't been a winning team for a long time but there have also been legitimate reasons for that. Not excuses mind you but reasons.
It's been a long time since the Lions had a couch with the wherewithal to learn how to win with the team he has. For years the Lions have been riddled with injuries. Game after game our star players have gone down and the substitute second and third string have had to fill in. From quarterbacks to linemen they've been mowed down on a regular basis leaving us a rag tag, motley crew. Our head coach found out how to put them all together and win. I expected him to do that.
Everyone in the league has seen the terrible penalty calls against the Lions. even the officials have stated the calls were bad after the games. Those bad calls go back at least 15 years in my memory. Many of them were game deciding such as the one recently called against Calvin Johnson for "Not finishing the process" It was pretty lame. And another one against Ndomikan Suh for pulling a guy down by his hair. The league rules state that if a player decides to grow his hair long he must realize that his hair becomes part of the uniform and can be used to take him down. All teams experience bad calls against them but I feel the figures show that they have been unfairly called against the Lions far more than any other major league team. I expected it would stop eventually.
For a long, long time it seemed that there was at least one player on the Lions team that created strife amongst the members of his team by whining and complaining like a spoiled child. This team and the head coach haven't participated in or allowed that type of whining behavior to be acceptable. They have rid themselves of the whiners, stuck together and learned how to win instead of blaming others for losing. I expected that this year.
So, as you can see I am not surprised. But I also have a prediction to make concerning something else I expect. The Detroit Lions aren't done yet. I watched their third string quarterback put together a group of injured and back up players to win two games in a row. I watched a second string quarterback, with a broken finger win a game with an injured running back and one of our star receivers on the sidelines with an injury and other players that haven't been with the team for half the season. I saw our excited head coach participating with and encouraging his players like no other coach in recent memory and I saw how they responded to him. They have learned to step up when necessary and win together as a team. I expect that the Detroit Lions will be formidable in the not too distant future. I can think of three NFL teams in the past three weeks that think so already.
The Detroit Lions won't be in the Super Bowl this year. However, I expect there will be many people like myself that will remember this as a great year for the Lions and their fans. Yeah, today is a good day for all of us..............Joe
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