Six games into the 2021 NFL season and Detroit Lions fans are realizing they’ve been lied to once again, as the team remains winless.
After the franchise parted ways with Bob Quinn and Matt Patricia, fans rejoiced hoping that the losing was over. The Lions followed this move by bringing in Brad Holmes as General Manager and adding Dan Campbell, former Lions tight end, as the new head coach. The excitement surrounding the city hadn’t been higher since the days of Megatron.
However, on Jan. 31, fans' hopes were dashed as the Lions announce a trade for quarterback Matthew Stafford, sending him to the Los Angeles Rams in exchange for Jared Goff and draft picks.
While the mainstream sports outlets throughout Michigan proclaimed the Lions were better off with this trade because Goff reached a Super Bowl LIII with the Rams. Add in two future first-round picks, plus a third, and the talking heads had enough ammo to pump kool-aid into the veins of a downtrodden bunch of fans.
Pumped full of incredible soundbites from Campbell, hope was beginning to blossom in the city. Going into the 2021 season, radio shows like the HUGE show on 96.1 FM in Grand Rapids predicted nine-plus wins for the team. Fans who dared to call and challenge Huge’s points were berated incessantly until they hung up. Outlets like ESPN talked about the Lions' chances of toppling the powers of the NFC North.
With all the noise surrounding the team, I began to smell a rat. From time to time, I would express these feelings on The Collegiate Sports Podcast, however, there was no evidence to back up my belief that Goff wasn’t equipped to play football in Detroit.
For years Stafford endured constant pressure due to subpar offensive line play. Sack after Sack, Stafford’s vigor regarding representing Detroit began to fade. However, nothing changed. The franchise continued to focus on weapons and neglected the interior of the offense.
While I can’t say Goff’s failure thus far are strictly his fault, for this reason, his struggles were easily predicted. As injuries continue to pile up and the team tries to apply patchwork fixes, the outcome isn’t looking any better than what we’ve already seen.
Currently, Goff has thrown seven touchdowns and four interceptions and struggled to find a flow with the offense. Although I would love to see the Lions trade Goff, I believe that if the struggles continue it will become increasingly difficult as the season progresses.
So what are we to do, while I’m not privy to the contract details surrounding Goff’s large-cap hit, I do believe our only hope is for the Lions to start winning. This will hurt our draft position as we currently hold the first pick overall in 2022, but it could help Holmes and Campbell offload that giant contract.
If we keep losing and hold our draft position, cutting Goff and eating the dead-cap is the best option. The draft picks acquired from the Rams are guaranteed to be late-round picks at the rate Stafford has performed this season leading the most explosive offense in football. So a position in the draft will be vital if we hope to grab a future franchise quarterback.
No matter what route Detroit goes, one thing is for sure, life as a Lions fan is going to be a never-ending journey through hell.