Only one team ends the NFL season on a winning note and last night the Detroit Lions felt the sting of a strong season suddenly end with a playoff loss at New Orleans.
Related: NFL Playoffs Schedule
But after the dust settles from the loss and that sting fades away, the Lions should feel quite good about the team they have headed into the offseason. With several young impact players showing solid growth and finishing the season with strong performances and consistent production, there is no doubt the Lions are headed in the right direction. That growth was seen in the Lions taking care of business in the regular season and only losing one game to a non-playoff team.
Now Detroit moves to the offseason continuing on the same path while making adjustments to start beating those playoff teams more consistently. Then they can think about hosting playoff games in the future. No site covers the Lions like Pride of Detroit, and they captured these sentiments nicely following the frustrating loss last night.
It was a lot of fun to watch this team make the playoffs, win 10 games and show the world how good Matthew Stafford and Calvin Johnson are. The building blocks for championships are there, and it's much nicer going into the offseason knowing that the Lions are a few players away from being championship caliber instead of a few players away from merely potentially being .500.
For more on the Detroit Lions heading into the offseason, check out Pride of Detroit. You can also head over to SB Nation's main NFL hub at SBNation.com/NFL.