Wednesday open thread: What is a ‘successful’ season for the 2017 Lions?

Ask any NFL coach what defines a successful season for a franchise and every single one will tell you the same exact thing: winning a Super Bowl. That makes a lot of sense from the coach’s point of view. They are brought in specifically to win a championship and if they were to celebrate anything less than that, it would look poorly on their job performance and goal setting.

But as fans, we don’t have to toe the company line nor pretend like our team has the talent to win the Super Bowl every year. Obviously if the Detroit Lions don’t win the Super Bowl in 2017, there will be some level of disappointment among the fanbase. But that doesn’t necessarily mean the team wasn’t successful in their eyes.

So today’s Question of the Day is:

Based your current expectations, what do the 2017 Detroit Lions need to accomplish to have a successful season?

My answer: Win a playoff game. There are now a couple generations of Lions fans that have no idea what it feels like to watch their team win a postseason game. It last happened in the 1991 season, when I was just five years old. If Detroit is every going to put the stigma of the last 60 years behind them, they need to break through this 1-12 playoff slump in the Super Bowl era.

I also think that’s both a realistic and a lofty goal for this team’s talent level. They are still a team that needs a ton of playmakers on defense and will go through some growing pains on offense—specifically in the running game. Remember, this offensive line is projected to have three brand new starters in 2017. It will take some time for them to gel. Meanwhile, their schedule is brutal, their division will be even more competitive than last year and their star left tackle will likely miss at least the first month of the season.

Obviously, I’d love to get to a point where it’s Super Bowl or bust as a Lions fan, but then again, look how spoiled Green Bay Packers fans have gotten. Regardless, if the 2017 Detroit Lions manage to finally win a postseason game, you’d be hard pressed to convince me the season wasn’t a success.

Your turn.