ALLEN PARK — Brad Holmes is tired of the Detroit Lions successful season being described as a “cute story.’’
That is because, in the mind of the Detroit Lions vice president and general manager, it was none of that. It was not a Cinderella, magical season. It was much more.
Yes, the Lions won their first playoff game in 30 years — and they won a pair of them — but it was not an accident. There was no magic dust involved and fans can expect more in the future.
“I want to tell our fans, look, it’s only going to get better. We’re only going to get better. … This is exactly what was supposed to happen,’’ Holmes said in his post-season press conference on Monday,
He understands the long-suffering fans’ line of thought, but would like them to shake that off and look at what has happened in the last three years since he and coach Dan Campbell arrived.
“Every move that me and Dan make has been made to sustain what we are building. Every single move we make and every single move we do not make, is to sustain what we have been building,” Holmes said. “It’s real. Look, it’s all to normalize what we’re doing.’’
The Lions finished 12-5 in the regular season, winning the NFC North along the way. They beat the Los Angeles Rams in the wildcard game and the Tampa Bay Bucs in the divisional round. They were one half away from earning a trip to the Super Bowl against the 49ers when they collapsed in the second half of the NFC Championship game and lost.
The Lions have improved from 3-13-1 in the first year of the Campbell-Holmes regime, to 9-8 and just missing the playoffs, to making a splash in 2023.
“We love where we’re at, this is supposed to be expected, it’s the standard. We love the window that we’re in, we just got finished with Year 3,’’ Holmes said. “We’re still building, we’ll stick to our plan, we’ll continue to put all our effort into improve each year which we’ve done, in my opinion.’’
Holmes, who came out quite fiery, also had a warning for fans as free agency (March 13) and the NFL Draft (April 25-27) approach.
He hasn’t always gotten good immediate feedback from the media on his draft picks. He can live with the criticism, but he wants fans to be patient and wait until December to judge, not in the spring.
“I want them to know that over the next few months, don’t get spooked this spring by speculation or negative talk or the entertainment news feed — don’t get spooked by that to not think we can’t build and sustain what we’ve been building,’’ Holmes said.
“… The next few months there’s a lot of speculation and a lot of opinions, people don’t know what’s going to happen. I just hope that they know every year that we’ve been upfront and straight with everybody,’’ Holmes said. “Every move we make is intentional and, again, every move we do not make is intentional.’’
This was a point he hammered over and over during his nearly 40 minutes behind the podium.
“I want to make sure the fans know what we always said, we draft, develop, sign our own and build through the draft,’’ Holmes said.
Also he made clear that not everyone can play for the Detroit Lions who base their roster decisions not just on talent but on personal characteristics. “That’s just reality, the standard that has been set,’’ Holmes said.
“Look, I think we all know adversity will always come, but that’s why we’re built on grit,” he said. “We’ll be ready for adversity. It will come regardless. That’s why we’re always preaching grit, grit, grit.”
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