Offseason optimism hasn’t kicked in for Detroit Lions fans

The best time to be a Detroit Lions fans has always been the offseason. Hope is at its highest. Every single year the Lions look better on paper. And, of course, there are no games to be won or lost, so your confident claims that this is the year the Lions host and win a playoff game cannot be proven wrong.

But the warm, fuzzy embrace of an optimistic offseason hasn’t hit Detroit yet. After the team decided to keep head coach Matt Patricia and general manager Bob Quinn, fans appear to remain quite skeptical about the future of the franchise. Not even the resignation of scapegoat defensive coordinator Paul Pasqualoni moved the needle.

Confidence in the direction of the franchise remains extremely low:

Right now, only 14 percent of fans believe the Lions are headed in the right direction. That’s fourth lowest among all SB Nation blogs, with only the Jets, Chargers and Jaguars polling lower than Detroit.

Now compare that to last year, when the Lions finished 6-10, but showed easy-to-see signs of improvement by the end of the season. Detroit finished with a confidence rate of about 40 percent, and that nearly doubled by the time free agency rolled around. Of course, the additions of Trey Flowers and Justin Coleman likely had to do with that confidence bump.

Will Detroit be able to do anything this offseason to give the fans a reason to believe? Or, better yet, will they make any offseason moves that actually results in more wins? As of right now, it’s clear what most Lions fans think.

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