There's building, there's rebuilding, then there's this. A lesson in construction.

"You see that burning swamp over there?  I want you to build me a home in it!"

That might as well have been the way William Clay Ford approached Martin Mayhew and Tom Lewand when he decided to hand over the keys to the Detroit Lions Empire.  Realistically, Mr. Ford inherited a fortress built on top of a mountain, but it needed a good cleaning so he slowly chiseled away at it until all he had left was a flimsy straw hut built on some soft ground below.  Then he did what any 75yr old grandson of a wealthy industrialist would do, hire Matt Millen to fix the problem's he created over the last 36yrs.  We are all too well aware of what Matt's solution was:

1)  Set the hut on fire.

2)  Flood the land to try to put out the fire.

3)  Keep throwing building material at the flooded ground, while the fire is still burning and hope that you win a Super Bowl.

How that strategy failed is beyond me?

But as Snoop Dog says, "back to the matter at hand".  Mayhew and company are not being asked to rebuild with a foundation in place, they're not really being asked to start all over again on solid ground.  What they've been tasked with is building something that most of us have never seen, a Championship NFL team, and oh yeah...they get to build it in the middle of a burning swamp.  

So just how do you build a home under those conditions?  Well, the simple solution would be to put out the fire.  The correct solution, however, is to hire the right man for the job.  I believe, and I think we all hope, that this solution came about last year when Mayhew got the job.  So while any idiot can say, "you gotta put out that fire before you do anything else", I think Mayhew recognized that the correct move was to get the fire under control first.  The 0-16 season was a disaster, I think we can all agree on that, but I credit Mayhew for recognizing it for what it was from day 1.  Rather than trying to find a quick solution to putting out the fire, Mayhew knew he still had a swamp to deal with underneath.  So instead of trying to improve the roster, or fire the head coach, he simply and calmly dug a trench around the fire and said "this is as far as this will spread, everything inside is already lost and now that we've abandoned hope we can focus on how to start over".  I have a lot of respect for Mayhew allowing his newly inheritted franchise to become the first in NFL history to go 0-16.  I credit him with trading away arguably one of their better players at the time, with placing Kitna on the IR, and yes, even with allowing Marinelli to stay on as head coach for the duration of the season.  So while most of us were cringing at the notion that any team, let alone our beloved Lions, could go 0-16 Mayhew was letting the fire burn itself out while he was working on ways to shore up the ground underneath.  

The next step, after allowing the fire to burn itself out, came in the form of another new hire.  While Millen liked to jump all over whatever the "hot at the time" trend was in the NFL (West Coast Offense, Mike Martz' Offense, Tampa-2 Defense, etc.), Mayhew appears to have taken a different approach.  Going into an offseason where several teams we're working on switching to a 3-4 Defense, Mayhew wanted substance over scheme.  Someone who could help him solidify the ground they were working on, and give the team direction.  Someone who could unify a locker room, identify with the fans, and most importantly someone who shared his vision of how to build an NFL franchise.  Enter Jim Schwartz.  If you believe everything that's been said about the front office in the last couple of drafts, the coaches and management are in lockstep on every decision so far.  That's not to say there aren't disagreements, but it sounds as though the arguments are presented and everyone has eventually come to an agreement before final decisions are made.  You can't build a home on murky ground and you can't build a Franchise on indecision, dissension, and lack of direction.

Now that the fire is out, and the ground has solidified, it's time to pour a foundation.  Few would argue that there is any better way to build a foundation than on the back of a franchise quarterback.  A lot of arguments can be, and have been, made about whether or not Matt Stafford is that franchise quarterback, but I know he's completely turned me around and it only took one Mic'd up game to sell me on #9.  If this franchise has any good fortune whatsoever, the beating that Matt Stafford took last season will only make him stronger and nothing makes a better home than a rock solid foundation.

With the foundation in place, it was time to build.  With Millen's lone good draft pick (Calvin Johnson for anyone wondering) already in place, it's time to build the walls brick by brick.  Other key draft picks like Delmas, Pettigrew, and Best can be cornerstones of this team for years to come.  Acquisitions like Scheffler and Burleson just further stabilize the walls.  If the offensive line is your roof, designed to help protect the foundation, then it is probably fair to say that it's still leaking a little...but players like Sims are instant upgrades and not just patches that are expected to stop leaks for a season or two.   The Lions have invested heavily in the defensive line this offseason, and while I'm willing to listen to arguments to the contrary, I believe it is nearly impossible to have a great defense without a stout defensive line. They've added players that were once considered very promising to the secondary in Wade and Houston.  They drafted a cornerback this season in Spievey.  Brick by brick the home is starting to take shape.  Yes, the secondary probably still needs work and the linebackers went from being what was probably a strength to an unknown at best, but building a proper home takes time. There's no doubt that bringing in former pro bowl players like Sharper or Thomas would inject more talent to this team, but I'm personally more interested in seeing players come in that are going to fit with what's in place and not disrupt ongoing construction.  

I know we're all anxious to finish the home, move our stuff in and host our first Super Bowl party, but I personally don't want to buy a new big screen if we're still missing some windows.  Let's try and accept that while it's starting to look a lot more like a home, there's still a lot of work to do and it probably isn't going to be finished this off season. With that said, it's nice to reflect on how much appears to be done in such a short amount of time.  There is now a "House of Spears" where there was once a burning swamp.  You've gotta at least be smiling about that!