As the Detroit Lions’ disappointing 2025 season drew to a close, Jim from Arizona voiced the frustration many of the team’s longtime fans are feeling in a letter to the editor: “I’ve been a fan over 50 years. Same Old Lions. Lose the games they are supposed to lose, and lose the games they are supposed to win. Looks like they spend more time practicing individual celebration than running plays. Too much hubris and not enough effort. … Same Old Lions.”
But are they?
Our sports writers don’t think so – even columnist Carlos Monarrez, who does not always go easy on the boys in Honolulu Blue. Most of the team’s difficulties this season, he wrote last month, stem from the loss of offensive coordinator Ben Johnson and defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn, who departed to coach the Chicago Bears and the New York Jets, respectively, along with players Frank Ragnow and Kevin Zeitler and a slew of injuries. “But if you’ve followed the Lions as long as I have,” Monarrez wrote, “You should know this regime isn’t stumbling around in the dark, like the ‘Same Old Lions’ days, with coaches believing in the invisible or getting into a postgame handshake kerfuffle, or a GM drafting receiver in the first round every year or wasting a pick on a long snapper.”
Still, in this town, pessimism springs eternal. So we decided to ask you, our readers, one simple question: “Same Old Lions?”
And you surprised us. Despite the bittersweet outcome of Sunday’s 19-16 win over the Bears, most of you ‒ 54%, to be exact, at least of those who responded to our (informal, unscientific) poll ‒ agree that the Same Old Lions days are gone.
Readers pointed to injuries, the loss of Johnson and Glenn:
“This is not the Same Old Lions. Disappointing season? Yes, but not like Lions fans suffered for so many years,” one reader wrote. “… Hopefully the Lions rebuild the offensive line and add the players needed that give them more depth to sustain key injuries that are inevitable in the NFL. Note: I do agree about the individual celebrations. It’s gotten excessive. These are highly paid professionals and making sacks, tackles, catches and touchdowns are what they get paid to do. Bring back Barry Sanders type behavior: Score and just hand the ball to the ref.”
Another wrote: “There are a few key players who keep this team in the mix, but when any of these players are injured, it throws the whole team off. Need 100% from everyone, and that includes good secondaries! … And we need a better play caller.”
Another reader was optimistic: “Since Dan Campbell took over the head coaching reins, the ‘Same Old Lions’ moniker is dead. Even before they started winning this team played different. … This Lions team will regroup and Dan Campbell will have them back in the winning circle again. Anyone calling Campbell’s team the Same Old Lions cannot see the forest for the trees …”
“These are clearly not the Same Old Lions,” a reader wrote. “The old Lions would not be only three-and-a-half point underdogs to the Champions of the North Division. They played the toughest schedule in the NFL, thanks to an unprecedent 15-2 record. Also, their injuries and lack of depth played a role in their mediocre season. The people who say they’re the same Lions are speaking out of fear as a result of the trauma from years of frustration. Come on now, doubters; please base your skepticism on reality, not fear.”
But not everyone was convinced, citing Campbell’s penchant for going for it and the, er, languorousness of QB Jared Goff’s running game:
“Regressed. Failed to make the necessary additions to win,” one reader wrote.
“Like the old Lions, they folded like an accordion,” another replied. “Campbell shouldn’t be fired, but he personally cost them a couple of games with his stubbornness. There’s a time and place to go for it on fourth down, must be smarter about when to do it. … Honeymoon is over.”
“When the Lions can’t run the ball, Goff isn’t mobile enough to avoid the pass rush. This going for it on fourth down is not surprising anyone anymore,” one reader wrote.
“They win just enough to lose a good draft pick,” one reader mourned.
Still, despite everything, most readers were ‒ dare we say ‒ optimistic? And willing, at least, to give their Lions some grace.
“For the past few years, this team has done exactly what all of us had hoped for,” one fan wrote. “Losing both coordinators and another season of injuries ‒ which has stopped many great teams in their tracks ‒ is nothing to all lose our heads about. Campbell is still learning, and I have no doubt we will be back healthier and stronger.”
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Lions’ season flopped. Readers say it’s not the same. | Letters
Reporting by Detroit Free Press Opinion Staff, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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