Detroit Lions fans among NFL’s most confident in direction of their team

There is nothing in the world like a Detroit Lions fan after the NFL Draft. If you could bottle that optimism and fuel a car with it, it could solve the gas crisis on this planet. Throw in the optimism that a new general manager, new head coach, and a new quarterback bring to a hungry fanbase, and there will be more than enough Kool-Aid flowing in Detroit to subsist us until September football.

If you need any visual evidence of this confidence, look no further than our NFL Reacts crowd. Each week, we send out surveys to a select amount of Lions fans from this site (you can sign up to be one of these members here). Last week, the question was simple: Are you confident in the direction of the Detroit Lions?

The response was nearly unanimous. Out of our Lions Reacts crowd, 96 percent said they were confident the Lions are headed in the right direction:

Big deal, right? Every team is confident their team nailed the draft. Every fanbase thinks their team has improved markedly from the year before.

However, not many fanbases are this confident. At 96 percent Lions fan confidence was only bested by seven teams. Here’s a look at the top 12:

Ravens — 100%
Bills — 100%
Chargers — 100%
49ers — 100%
Buccaneers — 100%
Football Team — 100%
Chiefs — 99%
Lions — 96%
Vikings — 96%
Browns — 95%
Jaguars — 95%
Jets — 95%

Of every NFL fanbase, only three did not have a majority of voters who believed their team was headed in the right direction, and here’s where it gets a little fun. Those teams are: the Cowboys (49%), the Texans (17%), and... you guessed it, the Green Bay Packers (32%). The saga of Aaron Rodgers clearly has shaken the Packers’ fanbase to its core.

As for the Lions, this optimism is obviously a lot higher than it was last year. Around this time in 2020, our Bob Quinn approval poll was exactly a 50/50 split. Two years ago, fan confidence was at 75 percent after the 2019 NFL Draft.

So, indeed, Lions fans' confidence is well higher than normal after a draft. But perhaps the most relevant data point was after the Lions last changed regimes. Back in 2018, with new head coach Matt Patricia was in place and a widely-praised draft in the books, Lions fans gave Quinn an 89% approval rating.

Is this regime finally one that will make the difference? Lions fans seem to think so right now.