7 Reasons the Detroit Lions Can Be Super Bowl-Bound in 2012

It may seem too soon to talk about next year's Super Bowl, when this year's hasn't happened yet.

But for the Detroit Lions, this season is over, and next season looks bright. And that's not in the same sad way that next year is considered "the year." The team is actually coming off a degree of measured success, and will be looking to build off it next season.

In fact, 2011-2012 was not even supposed to be their playoff year. They're already ahead of schedule on the rebuilding plan, and took some people by surprise by busting into the upper third of the league.

Many people will point to the Lions' one-and-done playoff run as proof that the Lions aren't there yet. And they're right, to an extent, but there were 20 NFL teams sitting at home that weekend wishing they'd even earned the right to lose to the Saints in January.

The fact is, the Lions made the playoffs this year with a young, raw, incomplete team, and the 0-16 rebuild isn't even complete yet. By all accounts this team should be much better next year, and better than making the playoffs means winning in the playoffs. Winning in the playoffs means making a Super Bowl.

Here are seven reasons why that scenario is not as far-fetched as it often sounds.

Matthew Stafford Has Arrived

Matthew Stafford has finally finished a full season.

The verdict? Stafford became the fourth player ever to throw for 5,000 yards in a season.

Now the 23-year-old quarterback can start the improvement process. Scary, right?

Also scary is considering how Stafford put up one of the best passing seasons of all time with average-at-best pass protection and almost no running game. Defenses knew they had to gear up to stop the pass, and they couldn't.

Then there were the games when he sputtered out because of a broken index finger on his throwing hand. Seriously, the kid went a few games throwing with four fingers, and still rewrote the Lions' record books.

I hope those of you who threw around terms like "injury-prone" and "bust" a year ago feel sufficiently wrong now. This is what happens when you give up on a 22-year-old quarterback. He may have just finished his third NFL season, but he's still a year younger than Andy Dalton.

The Good Drafts Continue

It's worth noting that the Detroit Lions have Matthew Stafford because the Detroit Lions drafted Matthew Stafford.

And against popular opinion, too. But is there anyone who still wishes they had drafted Aaron Curry?

I won't look down on you for this, I was on the anti-Stafford bandwagon as well. Though in my defense, my primary motivation was not Stafford's skill set, but my fear that the then 21-year-old would get demolished playing on a semi-pro level team.

And for two years, Stafford's injury woes proved me somewhat right. But his third year was so incredible; it proved worth the wait. And really, that's a microcosm of this new feature of the Lions: knowing what they're doing in the draft.

Now, there's no question that there has been some debate over the positions the Lions have drafted, and injuries have played a large role in the effectiveness of most high draft picks. But when healthy, the current Lions braintrust has hit on almost every single pick they've made.

The only player that can truly be considered a bust at this point is 2009 third-rounder Derrick Williams, but if the worst thing we can say about the Lions is that they missed on a third round WR/KR three years ago, they've come a very long way.

But more striking about the Lions' new drafting prowess is the value they've gotten out of the late rounds.

Sammie Lee Hill (fourth round, 2009) is a key part of the Lions' defensive line rotation.

Willie Young (seventh round, 2010) cracked that rotation as well, and made some huge plays as a pure pass-rusher.

Dan Gronkowski (seventh round, 2009) will never be as good as his brother, but he allowed Martin Mayhew to fleece the Denver Broncos for Alphonso Smith, who seems to know how to intercept the ball and has gotten some starting work this season.

Zack Follett (seventh round, 2009) was a great special teamer and even cracked the starting rotation before a spinal injury eventually ended his career in 2010.

Could Doug Hogue or Johnny Culbreath be the next late-round impact player? Or a 2012 player?

As long as the Lions keep getting that kind of value from all levels of the draft, they'll continue to improve.

Returning from Injury...

Lost in the talk about the the Lions needing to establish a running game is the (seemingly forgotten) fact that the Lions were down their top two running backs for most of the season.

Would the presence of Jahvid Best and Mikel Leshoure have saved the Lions' rushing attack this season? Of course not. Did you not see the interior offensive line fail to generate any push this season?

But would they have made it better and given the Lions more options with their rushing attack? Absolutely.

And it's not just the run game that will get a boost. Reserve (and perhaps someday starting) offensive tackle Jason Fox was shelved early this season, after some speculation that he could start seeing some work as a starter, and reserve safety Erik Coleman would have been at least a slight upgrade over the Chris Harris experiment this season.

(Most) Core Players Are (Probably) Returning

We all know the names at this point.

Cliff Avril, Stephen Tulloch, Eric Wright, Jeff Backus.

The Lions want to keep them all; they all want to stay. The money won't be there to make it all happen, which means one or more of them will be on a different team next year.

But as much as the Lions would love to keep those guys around, more important is the group of key players that will definitely be around next year.

Stafford, Johnson, Best, Burleson, Suh, Williams, Vanden Bosch, Houston and Delmas are just some of the names that will show up again in Honolulu blue jerseys next season, and all of them played major roles in the Lions' success this season.

Not to diminish the importance of those guys listed at the top, but the Lions are a well-built team. Losing a free agent or three might sting, but none of them will put the Lions into a tailspin.

Especially since...

Free Agency Will Be a Little Easier

Free agency is tough on teams with a long history of losing.

Nobody wants to play for a team that goes out and loses all the time, and anyone who does will need added incentive to join a team with no wins and no discernible direction.

By contrast, teams with winning traditions or established coaches pull interest from players before contract talks even begin.

While it's impossible to say the Lions have a winning tradition, they made the playoffs, and it's easy to see that they have a functional plan and philosophy.

So for the first time in a long time, free agents can look at Detroit as a place where they can compete for a Super Bowl.

That doesn't mean they're the favorite going into next season, but they are a young team coming off their first taste of playoff experience, and they're a team put together with purpose.

Free agents may not start giving the Lions the "want to win a championship" discount like they do with the Patriots, Steelers or Packers, but they certainly no longer have to look at Detroit as a talentless black hole where they have to forfeit winning for a cash-in.

Development Across the Board

If the Detroit Lions could get tangible development out of all the young players they're waiting on, they would have practically no needs this offseason.

Think about it: Jason Fox takes over at left tackle for the next 10 years, Aaron Berry or Alphonso Smith step in to cover the loss of Eric Wright, Willie Young does Cliff Avril's job, DeAndre Levy and Doug Hogue combine to cover the loss of Stephen Tulloch, and Amari Spievey and Louis Delmas finally grow to meet their potentials at safety.

Beautiful.

Also a ridiculous pipe dream. Martin Mayhew and Jim Schwartz are good, but not good enough to bring in and develop starters from raw clay to replace stars with no falloff.

But still, the fact remains that the Lions are filled to the brim with young players who are learning on the job. Many of them are not yet high-quality players. Some never will be. All have the potential to be.

If even half of those players grow to fill starting jobs, and do those jobs well, the Lions will be better. Great teams stay great not just because they draft well, but because they develop and cultivate talent.

Calvin Johnson

Failing to re-sign Calvin Johnson would be devastating in the long term.

Not only is he the second-most important cog in the Lions' passing game, but he's also the fan favorite. Lose Megatron, and the fan backlash will be incredibly intense.

Of course, that's a conversation for next year, unless the Lions can get him locked up in advance. We're talking about this year. And regardless of what happens with Johnson's contract, he's a Detroit Lion in 2012, and he might even be a Detroit Lion playing for a big, fat contract.

Now, the passing game always starts with the quarterback. The most dominant wide receiver is worthless if the quarterback can't get him the ball.

But Johnson helped make Jon Kitna look great, Dan Orlovsky look passable and Matthew Stafford look like a Hall of Famer at age 23. He doesn't make the Lions' passing game, he makes the Lions' passing game a lot better.

Calvin Johnson has proven effective with poor quarterbacks, and unstoppable with a good one.

Next season, we get to see what happens when you combine an unstoppable force (Johnson) with an incredible object (Stafford's arm), and add a dash of chemistry and offensive continuity (maybe even a running game!).

The NFL's first 2,000-yard receiving season may well be in reach.