The Lions are in unfamiliar territory as they head into the 2024 season.
Last season’s playoff win and trip to the NFC Championship Game was their first in more than 30 years and they have all of the main players from their roster in place for another run this year. That’s led to the highest expectations in a generation, but General Manager Brad Holmes does not want his team to embrace the change of circumstances.
Holmes said that he doesn’t want to think in terms of team being in a Super Bowl “window” because he wants their approach to remain the same as it was in leaner times.
“We always have to have the mentality of being the hunter,” Holmes said, via the team’s website. “Always have to stay hungry and when you start changing that philosophy and approach of, ‘Man, everyone is looking at us. Everybody is gunning at us.’ Ok. Fine. It doesn’t matter. The approach and the mindset doesn’t matter. When you change that, man, I think you get yourself in trouble.”
Falling short against the 49ers in the conference title matchup should help with maintaining that hungry mentality, but the team will still need to produce the same kind of on-field results in order to position themselves for another shot at the first Super Bowl in franchise history.
