Last season, the number 10 meant a lot to Lions quarterback Jon Kitna. The reason for that is because he said in an interview that he would be disappointed if the Lions won less than 10 games. His expectations for 2007 were to hit double digits in wins and to make the playoffs. After a 6-2 start, people started to wonder if Kitna was on to something as the Lions were just 4 victories away from making his hopes come true. Unfortunately, finishing the year 1-7 put Detroit 3 wins short of the 10-win plateau, leaving Kitna looking a little crazy as first expected.
Not to be deterred by having last season end up short of his expectations, Kitna is taking the same approach toward 2008 as anything less than 10 wins would be a disappointment to him.
I know a lot of people have criticized Kitna for making it sound like he thinks the Lions will win 10 games. That's how his statement came off a year ago, and people ran with it in a negative light. I see it differently, though. Kitna is just saying the truth. He and his teammates expect to win 10 games. As a football player, confidence is important, and saying anything different would be much worse than naming your team's goals.
Taking a page out of Kitna's book, running back Tatum Bell also has a couple goals for the 2008 season.
Since Bell is likely going to be the starter all season long this time around, I would say that both of his goals are reachable. That doesn't mean that Bell will achieve either of them considering the Lions offense is such a big question mark, but at least he has something to strive for.