Schwartz used the word important to describe the team’s first 10-win season since 1995 and first trip to the playoffs since 1999.
Not good. Not respectable. Important.
There probably isn’t a better way to describe it, really.
The Lions took a significant step forward as a franchise this season. They learned how to win and what it takes to get to the playoffs.
There’s no underestimating that.
The game against the Saints ultimately showed them what still needs to be done for this team to win in the playoffs, but this season was still important in the grand scheme of Schwartz’s master plan.
“I think our expectations are high, but it was an important year for us,” he said. “It was something - getting to the playoffs - that hadn’t been done for a long time and that was an important step, not just for the organization and the city but for individual players to have gone through that.”
The Lions beat the teams they were supposed to beat this season. There were no losses on the Lions’ resume to teams that didn’t have a shot at the playoffs or finish the season with at least a .500 record.
But the next step is beating playoff-caliber teams on a consistent basis. The Lions lost seven games, including their loss to the Saints in the playoffs, to teams that qualified for the playoffs or finished with a .500 record or above. They were 5-7 against those teams.
“An important step is having a better record amongst the peer group, meaning the playoff-caliber teams,” Schwartz said. “I don’t want to include just the 12 teams that made the playoffs. There were a lot of teams like San Diego, Oakland, Chicago, teams that were in that peer group, I guess you could say.
“You look at the development of our team and everything else and that is probably the next step for us. It is not coming up with a win against Denver, splitting against Chicago, or playing close games against Atlanta or San Fran or whatever, it is having consistent wins there. I think that is probably the biggest step we need to take.”
The players seemed to have the same perspective on the season on Monday as they cleaned out their lockers and met as a team for the last time this season.
“We took a big step forward as a team,” said defensive end
The Lions have come a long way from 0-16. But there is still plenty of work to be done and that starts this offseason.
“There are a lot of steps that we have taken,” Schwartz said. “We have talked about them here. Finally winning a game, winning a division game, winning a road game and things like that. Going to the playoffs is a big step, but that is obviously not our end game or something that is the last thing we want to accomplish.”
