They're back all right

Last Sunday our Detroit Lions fell to the Seattle Seahawks despite having a 17-0 lead to start the game.

What's new?

Actually this is a bit new. Last year was a deaparture from tradition for the Lions. Sure, they were always bad, but they never went 0-16 before. And let's face it: last year most of the games were over by the end of the first quarter.

But fear not, the good 'ol Lions appear to have returned. Remember when they used to often show sparks of brillance for brief periods of time? Isn't that what happened at the beginning of Sunday's game? The Lions went out and shocked that crowd. Well, for a while they did. But that's just like the pre-0-16 Lions.

They've hung in some of the games. They've often blown them at the end. They do appear to have a future. Sound familar? That's what I thought. I'm not saying that Jim Schwartz is a bad coach, nor am I saying that he and new general manager Martin Mayhew have no chance of turning this team around. I'm only pointing out the similarites between this squad and all the squads that we've had in the recent history of this franchise, with the exception of last year's.

They lose. A lot. But they win some, too. In those days it often came when least expected, and I wouldn't be surprised if that ends up happening some time this season. For all we know, it could be next week at Minnesota, crazy as it sounds.

And there's hope. Just like there always was. Remember in 2007, when they started 6-2 and put a clobbering on the then-good Cleveland Browns? There was hope then, but it died off as they went 1-7 for the rest of the year, thus sentencing them to a 7-9 record.

Think back even further. Remember Steve Mariucci? He and Joey Harrington were supposedly supposed to lead the Lions uphill. I have an old book which previewed the 2004 season that I often look back to, and I will never forget how it described our Lions as being a "potential surprise team".

And it appears that not much has changed. The random displays of actual talent are still here. The unpredictability remains. And, like always, there's hope. We want to believe that Schwartz is a genius. We want to believe that Matthew Stafford is a good quarterback. We want to believe that the Lions will make the right draft picks next year.

Will it work? Who knows? And frankly who cares right now? Isn't this the great thing about being a Lions fan?