Lions vice chairman Bill Ford Jr. addressed the team briefly after practice this morning and received a round of applause from the players.
It isn’t unusual for Ford Jr. to attend practice. But I can’t remember seeing him speak to the team in recent years. His father, William Clay Ford, has done that occasionally.
According to a couple of veterans, Ford Jr. said it’s time to see results after the team has taken steps to improve – building Ford Field, building a state-of-the-art practice facility, hiring coach Rod Marinelli, bringing in Marinelli’s type of guys.
“They don’t want to win,” left tackle Jeff Backus said. “They expect to win.”
That sounds similar to what Ford Jr. told reporters Monday.
Twice in the past few months – at the NFL owners’ meetings in April, then again Monday – Ford Jr. has expressed publicly his frustration with the Lions’ seven straight losing seasons and his faith in Marinelli.
Ford Jr. knows fans are upset and wants to see progress on the field.
“This is not the time for a lot of hype,” Ford said Monday. “It’s a time to actually go out and prove it.”
What does he mean by prove it?
“We’ve got to win,” Ford said. “That’s the name of the game. I think that the expectations for this team are that they will win.
“Otherwise you might as well … You have to go into each season believing that you’re going to win, and winning the championship is the goal. And it has to be the goal. And Rod absolutely believes that and believes that we’ll contend for it."
Get your airplane and Super Bowl tix and hotel reservations in Tampa today!!!
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