Over the last two seasons, the Detroit Lions have put together two of the franchise's best seasons of the Super Bowl era.
Unfortunately, they've also experienced heartbreaking exits from the playoffs in each of those seasons.
In 2023, they blew a 17-point lead in the second half against the San Francisco 49ers.
In 2024, the Lions didn't win a single playoff game as the NFC's top seed.
Now they head into the offseason with major questions looming over their heads as they've squandered two very good chances to finally win the franchise's first Super Bowl.
Luckily for them, it seems like their window to bring home a Lombardi Trophy should still be wide open.
Outside of Jared Goff, who will still be 30 years old heading into the 2025 season, the Lions' core is extremely young.
Aidan Hutchinson, Penei Sewell, Jameson Williams, Jahmyr Gibbs, Sam LaPorta, Brian Branch, and Kerby Joseph are all still on their rookie deals.
Amon-Ra St. Brown has already gotten his second contract, but is still only 25.
They also have most of their dominant offensive line locked up long-term.
On top of the talent they already have, the Lions are going into the offseason with a projected $67.9 million dollars in cap space, which is the sixth most in the league according to Spotrac.
All of that together should keep the Lions contending for years to come.
However, there are some big decisions to be made this offseason that will determine if the Lions can turn from contender to champion.
The first two are going to be their replacements for their coordinators. Offensive coordinator Ben Johnson is already leaving to take the Chicago Bears' head coaching job.
Defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn is expected to be the next one to leave.
Finding strong replacements for two coordinators who have been among the hottest commodities on the coaching market is going to be key for the Lions, especially as one of those coordinators strengthens a division rival.
The next big decision is going to be how they fix their defense.
In terms of total scoring, the defense was fine during the regular season. They only allowed the seventh-least points in the NFL.
However, they had a tough time generating sacks throughout the season. The Lions only brought down opposing QBs 37 times, which put them in the bottom 10 of the league.
They had none in their loss to the Commanders.
The return of Hutchinson will be expected to improve that, but Za'Darius Smith is heading for free agency, which could offset some of the improvement.
The team's rookie corners also didn't pan out in their first year and Carlton Davis will be heading for free agency.
On the rushing side of things, the Lions allowed 4.6 yards per carry, which is another issue they'll need to fix.
Injuries certainly played a part, but the defense clearly wasn't up to the task in the playoff loss as they got shredded by Jayden Daniels and the Commanders.
How the Lions choose to use their cap space and their first couple of picks to fix this defense is going to determine just how far this team can go in 2025.
Between the defense and coaches, the Lions are going to have some big decisions to make during the offseason, but if they get them right, they should absolutely find themselves back among the Super Bowl favorites in 2025.
