Detroit Lions fan confidence remains high despite 0-4 start

There isn’t a more patient fanbase in professional sports than Detroit Lions fans. It’s been 64 years since a championship. It’s been 28 years since the last home playoff game and 29 years since this team’s last playoff win.

No one would excuse a Lions fan for giving up at this point, and I’m sure plenty have. But for those who have managed to stick around through it all, an 0-4 start would be plenty of reason to get cynical, drop the Same Old Lions line, and move one with the rest of their fall.

But Lions fans are showing a tremendous amount of faith these days. Knowing that they’re in the infancy stage of a rebuild, very few fans appear to have been impacted at all by the team’s winless start to the 2021 season.

Each week, we poll a select group of Pride of Detroit commenters to see where their confidence is in the future of the franchise. A month into the season, Lions fans still remain relatively optimistic.

Yes, there’s obviously been a dip in confidence from the annual tradition of overflowing optimism in the offseason, but when asked if they’re confident in the direction of the team, 78 percent of Detroit Lions fans still answered yes.

To give you a sense of where that lands with the rest of the league, only 13 teams have a fanbase with higher confidence through four weeks. Fans of the Minnesota Vikings (14 percent confidence) and Chicago Bears (35 percent) are far more down on their team’s future than Lions fans, despite their better records. Hell, even the 3-1 Denver Broncos have a fanbase with lesser confidence (64 percent), granted they are coming off a 23-7 humbling loss at the hands of the Baltimore Ravens.

Still, it’s fascinating to see a Lions fanbase that is all in on this rebuild. This franchise has not earned a benefit of the doubt, yet Detroiters are willing to wait this one out. Maybe this regime has given them actual reasons for this confidence, or maybe it’s blind faith. Either way, props to you, Lions fans, for your undying faith.