The Detroit Lions are in a paradox: In order to win, they need to know how to win. But they won’t know how to win until they’ve experienced winning.
That’s the view of one former Lion who won a lot during his Hall of Fame career: Joe Schmidt, who was on the Lions’ NFL championship teams in 1953 and 1957.
“I think they are starting to get the good players, but you have to experience [winning] one time in order to get that flavor and then you understand what you’re going after,” Schmidt told the team’s website. “Until you experience that and get that in your blood and everybody understands what we have to do in order to get there . . . they’re just climbing up the hill, so to speak. They are almost to the top, but the last 50 yards or 100 yards is very difficult.”
Lions fans know how difficult those last 50 yards or 100 yards are: The Lions haven’t been to a Super Bowl or NFL championship game since the 81-year-old Schmidt was a 25-year-old in his fifth NFL season.