Lions Fans Can Finally Rely On Ownership To Lead Them Through Change
Credit: Junfu Han via Imagn Images
The Detroit Lions’ offseason is currently a story about change. Offensive coordinator Ben Johnson and defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn are gone, departing for the Chicago Bears and New York Jets, respectively. Quarterback coach Mark Brunell might be following Glenn, and defensive line coach Terrell Williams has taken a defensive coordinator gig with the New England Patriots.
Dan Campbell is going to have to do major work this offseason to rebuild his staff, and he’s doing it not as a Super Bowl Champion, but as head of a one-and-done playoff squad. But with the Lions and the city reeling from a massive upset last Sunday, we got an important reminder about what changes aren’t happening this offseason.
Owner Sheila Ford Hamp wrote a letter to the fandom, where she reaffirmed her commitment to delivering a Super Bowl to the organization.
I know this weekend was difficult… but please know that we have never been more motivated. I know the future will look different and the team that brought us so much success this year will never be together again. Pieces will change, but we are confident in where we are going and more aligned than ever as to how we get there.
One of the goals I set for our franchise was to create sustained success. The last two years have started that process. Back-to-back NFC North Division Championships and home playoff appearances are the type of successes that we envisioned, and we are on the path to continuing that.
Those aren’t just empty words. A straight line from the first nine decades of the Lions to today can be drawn from June 2020, when Hamp assumed control of the team. It was Hamp who found Brad Holmes and Campbell, and amidst all the turnover this offseason, it’s important to remember that the Lions’ triumvirate at the top remains intact.
We focus so much on a team pursuing a franchise quarterback, or getting an elite coach, but it might not be talked about enough how much a great owner can carry a franchise. The Rooneys stand out as one, which has kept the Steelers almost never feeling irrelevant. Look at any perennially successful team, and you’ll find a stable owner who hires the right people, shells out the cash necessary to win, and keeps out of the way.
It’s much more obvious when an owner doesn’t have those qualities. The Washington Commanders were never going to succeed under meddlesome owner Dan Snyder, and the Dallas Cowboys won’t under Jerry Jones. We can see how even having an All-World quarterback in Joe Burrow hasn’t saved the Cincinnati Bengals from their tight-fisted ownership. But good franchise stewards aren’t a story, because becoming a story is antithetical to good ownership.
Maybe there’s some luck involved — it’s rarely a sure thing that a coach or GM hire will work out — but look at the top organizations in the NFL, and their Owner/GM/Coach triangle tends to be remarkably stable. The New England Patriots are the ur-example, and we covered the Rooneys, who’ve had Mike Tomlin forever. But there are more. Look at the Baltimore Ravens for an underrated example. Between Steve Biscotti, Ozzie Newsome (and now, Erik DeCosta, Newsome’s right-hand man), and John Harbaugh, the Ravens have won fewer than eight games exactly once since 2008.
Those stable teams can withstand a lot of blows to their organization brain trust. Look at every member of the Bill Belichick coaching tree, or how the Chicago Bears poached Ryan Poles from the Kansas City front office. Funnily enough, very few of these poached coaches or GMs-to-be go on to replicate what they left behind.
Why? These coaches and executives are smart, and they’ve been around success and know what it looks like. Sure, some of them aren’t cut out to be The Guy, but many of them are behind the 8-ball the second they put ink to contract. The teams hiring for these positions most often are, generally speaking, teams with bad ownership. If an incoming coach or GM comes into an organization with dysfunction baked into it, things become infinitely harder.
For far too many years, that was the case with the Lions. But when Hamp took over and found Holmes and Campbell, their fortunes changed almost overnight. The right people were finally in place, and those same actors remain and are in lockstep. This is the first time the stability of this triumvirate will be tested, but it sure appears that their steadying hands will continue to guide this team into a bright future.
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