Notes: What if the Detroit Lions are finally good?

For months now, we’ve been hearing that these aren’t the Same Old Lions.

There’s a new culture—a gritty, hardworking group of guys led by a new regime made up of winners. These are not the Same Old Lions. But have any of us stopped to consider, what if that’s actually true?

Tim Alberta considers just that. In a longform feature for The Atlantic, he takes readers through his lifelong journey as a Detroit Lions fan. He begins with a memory from his childhood at the very first game he ever went to — the first round of the 1993 NFC playoffs against the Green Bay Packers.

“The sound of the 80,000 souls crammed into the Pontiac Silverdome—a glorified warehouse in the blue-collar suburbs of Detroit—was deafening, a roar of humanity unlike anything I’d ever heard, the decibel level shaking the cement beneath our bleacher seats,” he writes.

Alberta takes us from the moment he fell in love with the Lions all the way to where they are today, recalling all the hardship along the way.

“My life has been shaped by watching the Detroit Lions lose,” he writes. “Who will I be if they start winning?”

There is plenty to read, watch, and listen to today just a few hours away from the Lions’ season opener on primetime against the Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs. But this tale of a lifelong Lions fan who has spent decades hoping for Detroit to become what it is today — all that the Lions could be — is truly something special.

And onto the rest of your notes.

• Jared Goff joins the ever-entertaining St. Brown Brother’s show over on The 33rd Team.

• Could be an absolute showdown tonight.

• First, USA Today’s Jarrett Bell outlines the Lions’ soaring hype and how it happened. Then, Deadspin’s Criss Partee takes a stab at the very popular question — can the Lions live up to it?

• The Athletic’s Jeff Howe put together an anonymous survey from “key decision-makers around the NFL.” They voted on a variety of topics, and you’ll find the Lions mentioned several times, including tied in votes for the team that will surprise people in a good way in 2023. ($)

• Check out Jared Goff’s clothing line to help Detroit kids pay for college.

• Lions analysts often pointed out how few of former General Manager Bob Quinn’s picks lasted in the NFL. With the recent Jermar Jefferson news, Mike Payton points out nearly all of Brad Holmes’ draft picks are panning out.

• More from Mike: There’s an area the Chiefs struggle to defend that the Lions — specifically Jahmyr Gibbs — could exploit.

• The Detroit Free Press’ Dave Birkett offers game predictions for the entire season ... and postseason. ($)

• Along the same lines, Lions Wire’s Jeff Risdon makes some bold predictions for the Deeetroit Lions.