Larry Brown Sports

After a tremendously disappointing 4-12 season last year, the Detroit Lions are looking to get back on track in 2013 and contend for a playoff spot. Jim Schwartz’s team’s inability to take things one game at a time last season cost them in the long run, which is why it will be important for the Lions to simplify things when training camp begins.

For starters, Detroit should not be thinking about the Super Bowl just yet. Someone needs to tell that to defensive tackle Nick Fairley.

“I expect big things,” Fairley told the Detroit News earlier this week. “I am going to say we are going to the Super Bowl because I am competitive and that is what I want for the team and it is one of the goals. I am sure we are going to take it game by game and day by day.

“I always have high expectations. I got my kickball tournament and I am trying to win these games. It is the competitor in me that comes out on Sundays.”

There is nothing wrong with being confident and setting out to win a championship. That is exactly what you want from players, but it’s probably not a great idea to bring up the Super Bowl when your team won only four games a season ago. The Lions may have been too cocky coming off their impressive 2011 season in which they reached the postseason for the first time in 12 years. Now, it’s back to basics.

Fairley believes his team can win the Super Bowl and that’s great. However, this NFL coach could tell you that sometimes it’s best to not raise fan expectations if you can help it — especially with a fan base as frustrated as the one in Detroit.

The Detroit Lions were one of the most disappointing teams in football last season, going from a playoff appearance in 2011 to a miserable 4-12 record in 2012. After posting its first winning record in 11 years, the team was expected to continue improving and possibly even win a playoff game. Instead, the Lions went in the opposite direction.

Head coach Jim Schwartz took a lot of the blame for the four-win season, but it wasn’t just the fans who were upset with him. His own sons were also furious with their father.

“Nobody is happy. My kids are just starting to talk to me again,” Schwartz said earlier this week, via MLive.com’s Anwar S. Richardson. “My son (has) a lot of Lions posters and sweatshirts and hats. They weren’t happy with 4-12 either. Believe me, nobody was, and we all want to get that taste out of our mouth. The only way we are going to get that out is if we move on past it, and we identify what the unique capabilities of this team are, try to accentuate those, identify our weaknesses, try to minimize those, try hard every day in the offseason and training camp, and have a good game plan each week.”

We’ve heard the whole “my wife won’t even talk to me” bit before when coaches or teams struggle, but Schwartz reiterated that he was serious about his family being angry. He said his son Christian took the abysmal season particularly hard.

“That wasn’t a joke. He was mad,” Schwartz said. “If you see his room, he’s got Lions helmets and jerseys. It’s not because he’s my son. It’s because he’s a big Lions fan. If I worked down at the Rogue (automotive plant), he’d still have all that same stuff. He’s a fan … I imagine that you walk into the Rogue on Monday morning after a Lions loss, nobody is in a good mood. Nobody is in a good mood over in Allen Park either. Part of our job is moving on and getting ready for the next week.”

A lot of things went wrong for the Lions last season. They were certainly better than their 4-12 record indicated, but you have to make a lot of mistakes to lose 12 games in a season. Schwartz took the blame from one particular player for losing control of the team, but it certainly wasn’t all his fault. Regardless of who was or was not to blame, Lions fans were given flashbacks. When you look at their records through the 2000s, you realize that is a very bad thing.

Photo credit: Jim Brown/US Presswire

The Detroit Lions are in need of help at the running back position, and the name Reggie Bush seems to keep coming up in association with their backfield. Although he once again showed that he is susceptible to injury last season, Bush played in all 16 regular season game with the Miami Dolphins and nearly rushed for 1,000 yards. He also hauled in 35 receptions out of the backfield.

While I highly doubt Bush is capable of remaining healthy and being effective as an every-down back, he could be a nice fit in an offense that throws the ball a lot like Detroit’s. That’s why Lions receiver Nate Burleson is trying to recruit him.

“I’m going to just say this, ‘Reggie Bush, you already took your talents to South Beach, come on to Detroit,’” Burleson told NFL Network’s NFL AM on Monday morning, via Around the League. “He still has that legend behind him. … And if I can get Reggie Bush in a Detroit Lions uniform, ooh-wee, watch out.”

It’s a nice idea, but it may not be that simple. As Around The League’s Chris Wesseling pointed out, Detroit is currently just $2 million below the projected salary cap for the 2013 season. There Lions have 23 unrestricted free agents on their roster, so they will have to take care of some of their own in addition to seeing what’s available. At age 27 and coming off his two best seasons as a pro, Bush is going to look to cash in on what should be the final big contract of his career.

The Lions were a disappointing 4-12 last season, but their record is not a good indicator of where they’re at as a team. They have some holes — mostly on defense — and very little money. With the way Joique Bell emerged as a viable running back option toward the end of last season, they might be best suited spending their limited funds elsewhere.

Photo Credit: Ed Mulholland-US PRESSWIRE

Titus Young has had more than his fair share of chances with the Detroit Lions, but if he continues to tweet ridiculous things throughout the offseason he may wind up forcing the team to part ways with him. Earlier this week, Young went on a Twitter rant about how he doesn’t want to play anymore if he doesn’t start seeing more balls thrown his way. He also said that he has never run the wrong route.

Those tweets have since been deleted, but that didn’t stop the former Boise State Bronco from tweeting another gem on Friday morning. This time, Young took aim at the Lions for apparently threatening to cut him and not doing anything about it.

Oh I’m not done, if y’all going to cut me let me go. I’m tired of the threats

— Titus D Young Sr (@TitusDYoungSr) January 25, 2013

Oh yeah, and he also thinks that Canton may be calling when his astonishing NFL career comes to an end:

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The Detroit Lions looked like the Lions of old this past season, and that is not a good thing. After turning things around with a 10-6 record and a playoff berth last season, Detroit won only four games in 2012. A lot of people are to blame for the disappointing campaign, but it starts with head coach Jim Schwartz.

According to one anonymous Lions players, a lack of discipline was one of the team’s biggest problems this season.

“I think players first and foremost are at fault,” the player reportedly told CBSSports.com’s Mike Freeman. “I also think Coach (Schwartz) lost control of the team a little. I hope he comes back. It would be stupid to fire him, but we were an undisciplined team. Most of that is on us.

“But everyone needs to be accountable. The coaches, the players, the front office. Guys need to stop acting like a–holes off the field. Need to stop getting stupid penalties. The truth is coaches need to punish guys more when they screw up.”

Titus Young is a perfect example. It took punching a teammate, headbutting an opponent and intentionally sabotaging his own offense for Schwartz to finally get fed up with the young receiver, and even now he may still return to the team. Several Lions players were arrested over the offseason, which prompted an anonymous Detroit player to call the team a “laughingstock.” Coincidentally, the player Freeman interviewed used the exact same word.

“We go from the playoffs to a laughingstock in a year,” the player said. “That’s on us first. But everyone has to take the heat, including the coaches.”

Was it the same player in both instances? The Lions have been a laughingstock since their arrest-filled offseason, so it wouldn’t be a surprise if two different players described them as such. In any event, Schwartz’s seat is going to be very warm to begin the season in 2013.

Photo credit: Jim Brown/US Presswire

The Detroit Lions are used to be calling dirty on defense by now, and it hardly seems to bother them. Ndamukong Suh has worked hard to earn that reputation with plays like this one, but it’s less common to hear an opponent accuse the Lions of dirty play on offense. According to Bears defensive tackle Henry Melton, Detroit is just an all-around dirty team.

“Dirty. They’re dirty,” Melton said according to the Chicago Tribune. “They’ve always been a dirty team since I’ve been here. I don’t like them. They’re going to be looking for cheap shots and all that mess, just have to hold our composure and play the game we know.

“They just try to do all this extra stuff, talking little cheap shots. If you look at the tape, they’ve always thrown cheap shots, we had a brawl last year. It is what it is, I’m ready.”

Last season, Bears cornerback D.J. Moore threw a hit on Matthew Stafford that started a scuffle between the two teams. The way that fight started doesn’t really support what Melton is saying, but he said the evidence is all on video. He also said Detroit offensive lineman Dominic Raiola is one of the more annoying players he plays against.

“He’s old and he just talks,” Melton said. “He’s more just cuss words, bad language. Then he’ll throw some cheap shots in there and then he’ll say some bad words.”

Accusing an opponent of dirty play is one thing, but I don’t think any Bears players should be complaining about an opponent talking trash with all the ways they have made themselves look bad with their mouths this season. Chicago may still be in the playoff hunt and have a lot to play for this weekend, but the Lions should have no problem motivating themselves to play spoiler against their division rival.

Ndamukong Suh has been criticized by many different sources, but he has generally had the support of the Detroit Lions organization. His coaches have backed him and so have his teammates. Until now.

Jason Cole of Yahoo! Sports quoted an anonymous teammate of Suh who was critical of the defensive lineman’s behavior.

“Yeah, we’re loaded,” the anonymous player told Cole following Detroit’s last-second loss to the Colts on Sunday. “But we have a couple of guys who don’t understand what it takes to win. Just making a couple of plays and thinking that makes you great … sometimes you want to just shake some of these guys and say, ‘Don’t you get it?’”

The player reportedly told Cole that Suh would be first on the list of Lions players who doesn’t understand what it takes to win.

“He’s focused for 90 percent of the time,” a teammate said. “But it’s the 10 percent that kills you. … With [Suh], he loses his cool and all of a sudden we’re blowing a play or dealing with some controversy.

“When stars act like that, everybody else thinks it’s OK to act like that,” the player said. “It’s like with kids. You let one get a little out of control, the other one does the same thing pretty quick. It’s human nature.”

Suh was praised for playing a good game against the Colts. He had a sack, six tackles, including four for a loss, and he hit Andrew Luck six more times. But he also got out of his rushing lane on the game’s final play, allowing Luck to escape the pocket and find Donnie Avery for the winning touchdown pass. That’s pretty much the 90-10 problem summed up, right?

Suh was an All-Pro player in his rookie year, but his time in the NFL has been littered with controversy since then.

He was suspended two games for his stomp on Evan Dietrich-Smith last year, and he was fined $30,000 for kicking Matt Schaub in the groin this year. There have been countless accusations of him being dirty and celebrating opposing players‘ injuries as well.

It’s about time someone within the Lions’ organization called him out. The more Detroit allows him to get away with, the worse it will be for the team.