Detroit Lions: 5 Architects of a Playoff Team.

The Detroit Lions have five important architects to thank for the building of their playoff team. 

Playoffs? Playoffs?

Yes, I know that the Lions are only 2-0. I am fully aware that it’s a long season and that anything can happen over the course of a season. But the numbers are in their favor.

According to the NFL, 65 percent of teams that start the season 2-0 will make the playoffs (Lions fans may now perform a subtle celebration).

Nonetheless, the Lions have the organizational core of a team that will have a strong decade, not just one good year. 

There are five people most responsible for bringing a knocked down city back to its feet and restoring the roar.

5. Jim Schwartz

No NFL team has turned its fortunes around without a good coach at the helm. A coach who is hired to come in and take over for a bad (really bad, historically bad) team has to have a few critical traits; patience, planning, accountability, leadership and talent.

When Schwartz took over three years ago, he inherited the worst team in NFL history. He didn’t have much talent on the team to work with. 

What he did have was a plan. Even struggling with a talent-deficient roster, he patiently worked to forge a team identity and create institutional control. 

A 2-14 record can be deflating for a rookie coach and demoralizing for players looking to turn the page on a punch-line franchise, but Schwartz was dogged in his efforts.

Now with six straight wins validating his leadership and talent—which has the Lions almost universally acclaimed as one of the leagues up and coming, young and talented teams—Schwartz is getting well-deserved accolades.

4. Calvin Johnson

Even with second- and third-string quarterbacks throwing him the ball, Calvin Johnson’s numbers put him among the league’s top wide receivers (no matter what Chris Carter says). But his value is much more than just his catches and touchdowns.

His red-zone presence led the Lions to a second-overall ranking in red-zone efficiency last season. This season, every time a team has tried to play Calvin Johnson one-on-one in red zone, it has cost them a touchdown. 

He is a legitimate superstar and a walking mismatch. As a superstar, he has the ability to help attract better talent to the Lions.

As a mismatch, he makes all of his teammates better. His offensive teammates will have more open space and more margins for error. Defensive backs who have to practice against him every day will improve. He is a young gunslinger's best friend.

3. Matthew Stafford

The NFL has become a quarterback-driven league. Lombardi trophies are now won by wild-card teams with hot quarterbacks. Long gone are the days of the stout defense and punishing ground game.

Matthew Stafford came into the league with a great football IQ and rocket arm. 

In the game against Cleveland, Stafford showed his leadership and toughness by coming back into the game and throwing the game-winning touchdown one play after injuring his shoulder.

This season, Stafford has displayed much-improved touch and accuracy (so much for the idea that accuracy is something you have or you don’t). He has also demonstrated an excellent feel for the rush and good movement in the pocket. 

The Lions are the only team not to allow a sack this season in the NFL.

The only question that faces the Lions with respect to their bright, young, star quarterback is if they can keep him healthy.

2. Ndamukong Suh

One of the biggest obstacles confronting a franchise with decades of losing is the culture of hopelessness that infects the team. 

How can it possibly be turned around? Ndamukong Suh is the perfect agent of change. 

When Suh was drafted, he let it be known that he was excited to be going to Detroit, and that he looked forward to embracing the city, the team and the undertaking of creating a winning team. 

His talent is immense. His work ethic is unparalleled. But his attitude might be his greatest asset. He believes in himself. Suh believes that enough hard work, determination and positivity can even change history.

It also helps tremendously that he has the talent to be one of the all-time greats at defensive tackle.

1. Martin Mayhew

This may come as a shock, but Martin Mayhew is indeed the most-valuable Lion. 

Though he doesn’t get as much public acclaim as some of the other more well-known general managers in the NFL, his work has been as good (if not better) than anyone’s.

If Matt Millen deserved (and he did) the lion’s share of the blame for the last decade of losing, then certainly Mayhew deserves much of the credit for the turnaround.

Ozzie Newsome (Ravens) and Bill Belichick (Patriots) are consider to be the best at handling the draft, but Mayhew has only missed on one player in the first three rounds of his first three drafts (Derrick Williams, a third-round pick). 

He has drafted quality players such as Matthew Stafford, Ndamukong Suh, Jahvid Best, Brandon Pettigrew, DeAndre Levy and Louis Delmas.

Mayhew has also used free agency to bring in players like Nate Burleson, Kyle Vanden Bosch, Eric Wright and Stephen Tulloch.

By trading lower (fifth- through seventh-round) draft picks, Mayhew has also greatly improved the depth and talent on his roster. Tony Scheffler, Alphonso Smith, Corey Williams, Rob Sims and Chris Houston are all players that Mayhew plucked off the scrap heap for next to nothing, and who are now making big contributions to the Lions improvement.

All of this, Mayhew has done in just three years for one of the most downtrodden franchises in all of sports. 

Jim Schwartz will lead the team. Players like Calvin Johnson, Matthew Stafford and Ndamukong Suh will make the plays.

Players and coaches will come and go, but it's Martin Mayhew who will continue to improve the talent, manage the salary cap and give the Detroit Lions team all the correct ingredients to create a perennial playoff football franchise.