Is Detroit's Super Bowl window closing already?

Yahoo

a day ago

Yahoo Sports' Jason Fitz is joined by NFL writer Frank Schwab look at the Lions place in the highly-competitive NFC North after Detroit's OL centerpiece Frank Ragnow retires. Hear the full conversation on 'Inside Coverage' - and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube or wherever you listen.
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Video Transcript
If you had to bet your house today on the Lions or the field in the NFC North.
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Who would you bet?
I, I think I'd take the Lions still, because there's flaws in the other teams, right?
Like, but there's flaws in the Lions now too, so I think I'd take the I was pretty confident last year, yeah, Lions, Lions are gonna win that division.
Now I'm like, well, uh, I, I think the Lions, like, you know, that's, that's the difference.
When you lose a four-time Pro Bowl center?
Like, yeah, I would stuff like, would you lose an offensive genius, who who is your offensive coordinator and He led the league in points last year.
When you have, I believe it's the 2nd toughest schedule in the NFL projected.
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I mean, this is, these are the things that kind of add up and I'm not saying the Lions can't win a Super Bowl, they certainly can.
They, they have one of the best rosters in the NFL still.
There's no question about that.
They're gonna get their defense healthy, but it just, I, I, I worry, I worry for, you know, I have Lions fans, friends, and I worry that they're gonna 10 years down the road, they're gonna be looking back at those two playoff games and saying.
Man, that was it.
That was our shot, and we let it pass.
I mean this is how quick it could change in the NFL.
Who would you take, lines of the field?
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I would take the field.
I'll take the field.
Uh, here's the other thing.
Remember a few years ago, now the AFC West looks like it's gonna be very good, but a few years ago, everybody was sitting there saying, oh man, the AFC West is gonna be great, and it turned out to be a year where the, the, everybody but the Chiefs stun, right?
Like we all remember that.
I'm not so sure I'm ready to buy the NFC North hype this year to the same level as anybody else.
If I'm being fair about the yeah buts that every team has, like, it is easy for me to say, OK, the Lions are great.
Yeah, but they're replacing two coordinators, part of their offensive line.
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I'm not sure what it's gonna look like in a bunch of positional coaches.
Uh, the Vikings are gonna be great.
Yeah, but we have no idea what JJ McCarthy actually looks like on the field.
Like none.
We have zero proof of concept on a rookie quarterback, essentially, uh, when it comes to the fact that we haven't seen him play any meaningful football.
So it's easy for me to say, uh, I, I've been long on the, are we sure about Jordan Love Trane?
And so now I'm sitting there saying, I mean, Uh, maybe with the Packers, and then it's super easy for me to say Ben Johnson's never been a head coach before.
We don't know if all of this is going to gel together for the, the, the Bears.
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I just, I, I don't know.
Like, yes, I could easily see where all four of those teams are epic, incredible, and, and it's absolutely a joy to watch every Sunday.
I could also see where this division sort of implodes and all of these teams are sitting here saying, man, this was supposed to be our year.
Like I, I think there's a pretty easy case.
If you're a Packers fan, it's easy to fault the rest of the division.
If you're a Bears fan, it's easy to fault the rest of the division.
At some point, you got to put that mirror at yourself and realize that if every single fan base within a division can find a massive reason that they don't think the other teams are gonna be great, I think there is a little bit of a pause for concern that the NFC North might be getting a little bit more praise right now than it deserves.