Lions need to walk the walk

Motor City Kitties need to shut up and just winThey’ve talked a big game this offseason and it’s time to back it up. It boils down to wins. History says we won’t receive them, but players and coaches say otherwise.

The Detroit Lions all spring have said this year would end different than last year’s 3-13 stinker. Quarterback Jon Kitna predicted more than 10 wins. They’re talking division titles, playoffs, Super Bowls, Pro Bowls. But is that different than any spring since 1957, the last Lions championship?

We hear this optimism every year. They say we’ll see a new breed of Lions, THIS year it’ll turn around. And then we get trademark lousy effort and another top-5 draft pick.

The Lions have become Detroit sports’ version of “A Christmas Story,” an annual comedy that, despite numerous viewings, we can count on for laughs.

Confidence is necessary in sports, but back it up. If you say the team will win 10 games, go win 10 games. Otherwise, you look like a team of Rasheed Wallaces, making inappropriate guarantees, obnoxiously flapping your jaw. But instead of T’s, the Lions get L’s — lots of them.

Detroit has one playoff victory since ’57. The last six years it has the league’s worst record at 24-72 record, thus giving the Lions no reason to discuss 10-win seasons. Start with a .500 season. Get to 8-8 and build from there.

The Tigers, Red Wings and Pistons figured it out. Why can’t the Lions?

Think back to the 1993 Pistons team, for instance. Awful. A team comparable to the Lions in terms of foolish mistakes and lackluster effort. But slowly they got better, until the early 2000’s, when the Pistons became a force in the Eastern Conference. It didn’t happen overnight. It took time.

That’s the reality of becoming a legitimate contender. It requires as much patience as talent.

The 2006 Lions mirror the 2003 Tigers, which set the American League record for losses in a season. What if, after that terrible year, Ivan Rodriguez then said the Tigers would win 90 games the next season? Yeah, that sounds outrageous. Nobody would take that seriously. And nobody takes Kitna’s words seriously for the same reason.

But quick turnarounds happen in the NFL more than other leagues. Last year it was the New Orleans Saints, which went from 3-13 to the NFC championship game. So it’s possible. But with this Lions team? Unlikely.

The Saints had the pieces to make a run. The Lions, frankly, don’t.

At quarterback New Orleans has Pro Bowler Drew Brees, who posted an MVP-caliber season. Detroit has Kitna, the NFL’s duct tape. He holds an offense together long enough for a talented signal-caller to arrive and weld it together.

Joining Brees in the backfield are the explosive Reggie Bush and steamrolling Duece McCallister. Detroit, with Tatum Bell, T.J. Duckett and an injured Kevin Jones, doesn’t compare.

Kitna, Roy Williams and others says the offense should average 40 points. Even if that were realistic, they need a run game to compliment the pass.

When Lions offensive coordinator Mike Martz coached in St. Louis, he had many weapons for which Detroit’s roster cannot provide. But one stands out: MVP running back Marshall Faulk. Defenses had to respect the run, which opened up passing lanes for MVP quarterback Kurt Warner to hit Pro Bowl receivers Tory Holt and Issac Bruce.

Whomever lines up behind Kitna won’t strike fear into any defense. Like last year, teams will drop defensive backs and send heavy blitzes at Kitna. The Lions offense is one-dimensional, and other teams know it.

And that’s just one blemished facet for the Lions. They can’t block, can’t tackle, have too many turnovers, obvious weak spots in the secondary, small and inexperienced linebackers, and a coach that hasn’t proven a thing.

Detroit talks about continuing momentum from the end of last season, when it beat the playoff-bound Cowboys in Texas Stadium. But that was its only win in the season’s final month. Momentum? The Lions went 1-4 in December. And the only win came against a team resting for the playoffs, a consolation prize for a terrible season, the equivalent of your big brother letting you win. And, apparently, something to build on?

That defines Detroit Lions football. Other teams win, say, four of their last five, boosting confidence heading into the offseason.

Oh, but not in Lions camp, where 1-4 equals a positive momentum swing and a win over a team taking it easy somehow means Detroit can hang with tough teams.

The Lions are lucky, in a way. They play football, America’s sport, so it’s unlikely they’ll vanish from the Detroit sports radar.

But they better be careful. Another despicable season after all this boasting and predicting will make things worse. People won’t completely ignore the Lions, but won’t pay full attention, either. Who wants to watch losers with three winners in town?

If attendance shrinks, that could trigger a chain of bad things, such as temperatures rising in the fan mutiny toward team president Matt Millen and owner William Clay Ford.

Lucky for them there’s an easy way to avoid that: win. Score more points than the other team, that’s all people want. Not predictions.

The Lions have spoken up and have our attention. Now they should stop talking and start winning.