ALLEN PARK — Lions GM Brad Holmes’ expectations are “very high” that the Detroit Lions can win the NFC North this season.
He is not alone. All of a sudden the Lions are NFL darlings. The hype train has been rolling for months.
They will get their first test — a huge one — when they open the season on Thursday at the Kansas City Chiefs, the Super Bowl champs.
“I do think that we took our medicine in the past couple years. Me and Dan (Campbell) talk about it all the time,’’ Holmes said on Friday. “We’ve coached the Senior Bowl, we’ve done ‘Hard Knocks,’ we’ve done all of that. We’ve got through a lot of darkness to get to this point.
“That’s where the grit comes in place in terms of just not really wavering, put your head down or get discouraged. We put the focus on building the best roster we can,’’ Holmes added.
Last season ended on a good note when the Lions won eight of the last 10 to finish 9-8 and out of the playoffs. Then throw in a good draft and a few key free agent signings and the Lions look like possible contenders.
Holmes said the hype was a little surprising since they didn’t make the playoffs last year.
“I love how we ended the season, but I didn’t think it would lead to this magnitude. But regardless of how much positive news is coming out we’ll still keep the same mindset,’’ Holmes said. “We’ll always be the hunters.’’
Holmes explained he wasn’t just looking for the most talent but he and Campbell have a vision of the type of player they want.
“It starts with football players first. What’s a football player? Smart, passionate, instinctive, relentless, tough, gritty. We have football players with talent,’’ Holmes said.
There’s that word grit again. Last year’s second half was all about toughness, resilience and, yes, grit.
“We won’t sacrifice our identity for anything. I think we’re a pretty resilient group. That’s where I believe it all starts,’’ coach Dan Campbell said on Friday. “For us and for anybody that’s been around this game. Look, we’re going to hit some hard times, it’s the teams that can come out of that the other way and they can come out the other end unscathed and I think that’s what this roster is built for.’’
Holmes said they are not afraid of the expectations.
“The expectations are earned through what we’ve built and what we’ve done up to this point in terms of how we finished the end of the season and our player acquisition process,’’ Holmes said. “Now we just have to prove them right.’’
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