Detroit Lions Fan Blog

Are the Detroit Lions for real? That’s the question that many of us are asking in the wake of the Lion’s season opening victory over Oakland. The Lions kicked off their season with a rare road win, trouncing the Raiders 36-21.

Lions fans know better than to get too excited. How many times have we watched our beloved silver and blue look good, start to win a couple games, only to break our hearts in the end. Coaches not taking the ball after winning the coin toss in overtime. Scott Mitchell throwing interceptions as fast as he can. Barry Sanders retiring in disgust over the lack of passion that was rampant throughout the organization. We all know the drill.

And yet, the team looked pretty darn good on Sunday. Jon Kitna looked comfortable running the Mike Martz offense and all of the receivers got into the mix, including the rookie Calvin Johnson. Sure, the defense is still horrible (we gave up 313 passing yards to ex-Lion QB Josh McCown), but at least we know we have the offensive firepower to stay competitive. We’re not the Colts but at least we can score points when we absolutely need to.

So, back to our original question - are the Lions for real? We’ll have to see them compete against tougher opponents to really get a true sense of where this Rod Marinelli led team is at. Let’s face it: the Raiders are not the Patriots. The Lions play the Vikings this week, and if they can pull off an upset there, we might have a better idea. But we won’t truly accept this team as “for real” until they beat the Bears. And do you really think that will happen? Exactly.