I know a lot — a whole lot — of Detroit Lions fans, and they are hyped up more than they have been in a long, long time as their team gets ready to play the defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium on Thursday night in the first NFL regular-season game of 2023.

The reason for it is that the Lions, after starting very slowly last season, caught fire at the midway point and went on a tear, nearly making the playoffs as they finished 9-8. They are counting on the premise that momentum carries over from one season to the other in pro football. That is, the Lions will pick up right where they left off last year and just automatically play great football and win the NFC North on the way to becoming a serious contender for a Super Bowl berth.

I have to keep my mouth shut about this, for fear they will gang up on me and tear me to shreds. I like my body the way it is, or at least the way it is if it’s in one piece. I hate to tell them that that’s not really the case. You don’t carry momentum, good or bad, from one season to the next. It just doesn’t happen.

Unlike defense, momentum doesn’t travel.

That’s according to former Browns head coach, and current New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick. When he was with the Browns 30 years ago, I asked him that question. The Browns had finished 11-5 in 1994 and were Sports Illustrated’s pick to make it to the Super Bowl in 1995. It didn’t work out that way, with the team announcing at the halfway point of the season that it was moving to Baltimore in 1996. The Browns finished a dismal 5-11. The magic of 1994 did not carry over to 1995 in so many ways. Even before the announcement of the move, the Browns weren’t really playing well consistently.

Belichick told me very clearly that every season is one onto itself. Each year, you have a different team with different players and with a different chemistry. The schedule is different, and whatever happened the year before is done and gone and the team must build its own story for the new season.

With that having been said, then, it is still possible for a team to put together a good season after finishing well the previous year. It just takes a lot of work, and a lot of forgetfulness about what happened the year before. If your team concentrates on the here and now, and if the talent and playmaking ability is there, then a team like the Lions can indeed do well in 2023. They have a lot of talent, and they have a good head coach in Dan Campbell and some quality assistants. Their front office, which includes former Browns General Manager John Dorsey as a senior consultant, is good as well.

But things can also go south, and if that happens, then I will not tell Lions fans, “I told you so,“ because I didn’t tell them so. I’m afraid to.

I hope the Lions will have a good season so that those fans will be happy. But there are certainly no guarantees.

By Steve King