Great article on The Athletic about Brad and Dan

[Zwalt]

Behind the braintrust that turned the Lions into NFC North favorites

The two men overseeing this new era of Lions football never met before they were hired. Now they've got Detroit thinking playoffs.

theathletic.com

On a cold January evening eight months ago, his team on the verge of a breakthrough after a slow-and-steady rebuild had run its course, Dan Campbell finally said the quiet part out loud.

“I know this: We need to be competing for a division championship next year,” Campbell told local media in Detroit. “I mean, that’s the goal. That’s what Brad and I set out to do.”


Those comments from the Detroit Lions’ unapologetically candid head coach came nearly two years after he and general manager Brad Holmes were hired to jumpstart a franchise that lacked direction, vision and a comprehensive plan for sustained success. Now entering Year 3 together, Campbell, Holmes and the Lions are gearing up for the organization’s most anticipated season in some time, with a Week 1 game Thursday night at the Kansas City Chiefs, the defending Super Bowl champions.

The Lions are the favorites to win their division, something they haven’t done since the NFC North was known as the NFC Central. A team that hasn’t won a playoff game since the 1991 season — when Boyz II Men’s “It’s So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday” topped the charts — could soon put an end to that drought.

The two men overseeing this new era of Lions football had never met one another before they were hired, introduced via text message just weeks before getting to work.

It begs the question: How exactly did the Lions make this work?

Really good read but also too long to post in entirety. It's got me fired up for the season.