At 5-1, Lions emerging as NFC’s best team, but does Detroit’s dominance have staying power?

Let’s evaluate how the Lions got to where they are today

It’s been 12 years since the Lions were 5-1, but it’s been even longer when they had a legitimate argument as the best team in the NFL through six games. Way longer.

And in 1991, the season that ended with Detroit boasting a 12-4 record and a rousing playoff win over the Cowboys before a divisional-round defeat, Washington and New Orleans were both undefeated when the Lions started 5-1.

The last time the Lions could do what they can now — make a serious case as the finest club in their conference, or the entire league — was when The Jackson 5 released the songs “I Want You Back” and “ABC” with 11-year-old Michael Jackson arriving on the scene as the group’s burgeoning young star lead vocalist. It also was the first year after the AFL-NFL merger, 1970.

That year, the Lions also began the season 5-1 and through six weeks were tied with the Vikings and Baltimore Colts for the newly expanded league’s top record.

How’ve they done it?

With a seismic, incredibly savvy trade and remarkable drafting, even if they didn’t follow today’s widely accepted rule to not pick a running back in the first round.

From the famous Matthew Stafford trade in 2021, the Lions received the following:

– QB Jared Goff
– CB Ifeatu Melifonwu (2021 third-round pick)
– WR Jameson Williams (2022 first-round pick)
– DL Josh Paschal (2022 second-round pick)
– RB Jahmyr Gibbs (2023 first-round pick)
– TE Sam LaPorta (2023 second-round pick)
– DT Brodric Martin (2023 third-round pick)

Lions GM Brad Holmes, who had spent his entire NFL career within the Rams organization dating back to 2003, had in-depth knowledge of Goff from their time in Los Angeles together. At the time of the trade, Goff’s reputation had already crumbled. He felt like a necessary throw-in to replace Stafford but a quarterback who would continue his downward spiral on a team that was clearly rebuilding.

After a solid 2021 in which he completed over 67% of his throws with a reasonable 2:1 touchdown-to-interception ratio, in 2022, Goff had his highest quarterback rating since 2018 and ended the regular season with 15 touchdowns and no picks in his final nine games, during a Lions heater in which the team went 8-2 down the stretch, flipping the script on a 2-6 start.

Goff and brilliant offensive coordinator Ben Johnson had really gelled.