Every year during the Detroit Lions’ offseason, I get this question.
But this year has been different.
This year I’ve gotten this question many more times than I can remember getting it during any offseason in the past 20 years. The question says a lot about fans’ concern over the team’s recent disappointing past and, I believe, where the team is headed.
That question? Do you think the Lions will be good this year?
Sometimes the question is asked casually. But more often this year – and increasingly as we’ve gotten closer to the 2026 season opener against the New Orleans Saints on Sunday, Sept. 13 – it has been asked uneasily by friends and fans who are looking for a morsel of hope from a professional observer.
How did the defense look during camp?
How did Goff look?
How did Gibbs look?
What’s wrong with TeSlaa?
Do you think Branch and Kerby will be good when they come back?
Can they trust Bates?
Let me remind everyone that every NFL team has concerns before the season starts. Every NFL team has injuries, aging vets, unproven youngsters and often some coaching turnover.
So, when I was asked early this year if the Lions will be any good, I would preface my answer with these caveats. But in the past few weeks, as the shape and identity of the team has solidified, I’ve changed my answer significantly.
My answer now? The mere fact you’re raising the question about whether the Lions will be good is itself an answer. In other words, if you have significant doubts, they’re probably founded on an underlying truth.
The short version: No, I don’t think the Lions will be good this year. And by "good," I mean I don’t think they will make the playoffs.
The reason, in its simplest form, is that the Lions are already facing too many changes and challenges.
The offensive line is, at best a question mark and, at worst, kind of a mess.
For the second straight year, the offense has a new coordinator.
The Lions’ elite safeties, Brian Branch and Kerby Joseph, will miss at least a quarter of the season, if not more, while they deal with significant injuries.
Of course, the Lions have plenty of strengths that could end up making them a playoff team again. They have elite offensive playmakers (Jahmyr Gibbs, Amon-Ra St. Brown and Jameson Williams, to name a trio), a very good quarterback (Jared Goff), an elite defensive end (Aidan Hutchinson) and and elite linebacker (Jack Campbell).
Then there’s the other Campbell: Dan. He’s still a very good coach, but this year he took a different tack and reached an inflection point. He chose to look inward, stopping the joint practices with other teams he was once so fond of in order to narrow the focus on his own team.
So I asked Campbell on Tuesday what gave him hope for this season amid all the changes his team has experienced. He said he thought his team upgraded areas it needed to and had a “really good offseason.”
“And then I think just our focus,” he said, “getting back to what we do, what we're about and really, really competing with each other, testing each other: the chess game between the coordinators, the offense, the defense, the cutting it loose more on special teams.
“I just thought we identified those issues and went after them, not only personnel, but just schematically and competitively. I think we got back to some of those things that we're about. I think we had an outstanding training camp and so that's always going to give me hope.”
He isn’t wrong. A lot of growth can come from taking a hard look within. But will all that introspection be enough to offset a rookie right tackle, a backup center, a new left tackle (Penei Sewell adjusting to the move from the right side) and, now that Campbell is channeling his inner Matt Patricia, a revolving door at left guard?
You know the old saying about having two quarterbacks: If you have two, you don’t have one. The same thing applies at any position in the NFL, despite any attempts to cast it as some kind of manly man competition.
One low-key concern I haven’t heard anyone mention: Jahmyr Gibbs.
Yes, he was fantastic last year. Yes, I was the one who advocated trading away David Montgomery. But Gibbs faded down the stretch last year, posting an average rush of 2.5 yards in December – his worst in any month – when the Lions needed him most in the thick of a playoff race.
So can he still be an elite rusher when he’s banged up late in the season? And will the weight of living up to his massive new contract affect him?
The answer to all these questions, and even more of your own, will begin to be revealed Sunday, when the Lions kick off the season.
One game at Ford Field won’t answer everything – but it will give us an inkling about what we might expect.
Contact Carlos Monarrez at cmonarrez@freepress.com and follow him on X @cmonarrez.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Will Detroit Lions be good this year? You might not like my answer
