Most franchises hope to legitimize their efforts in a given era by winning a Super Bowl. The long-suffering Lions under CEO Tom Lewand aspire to do more than that.
“Our focus is on getting better,” Lewand told WXYZ-TV. “Last year wasn’t good enough for us. Our goal is not to be a wild card participant. Our goal are a lot higher than that. People say to us all the time, ‘What a great year, what a great year.’
“It was a step in the right direction, but we’ve got a lot of work ahead of us and our goals are out there to be achieved and that goal ultimately is Super Bowl championships, not just one, but many.”
We like the ambition. And given the struggles the franchise has endured, the fans surely do, too.
The challenge is to avoid creating unreasonable expectations from said fans. But the bar has been so low for so long that it’s unlikely anyone will be revolting if the team does nothing more than maintain its hopes for a playoff berth into December on a regular basis.