Lions GM confident team can win NFC North for 1st time in 2023

Detroit Lions general manager Brad Holmes believes his team can win the NFC North for the first time this season.

Holmes said Friday his confidence is "very high," according to ESPN's David Woodyard. "We've gone through a lot of darkness to get to this place."

The Lions went 3-13-1 in 2021, Holmes' first year as general manager, but the club finished with a 9-8 record a season ago despite starting the campaign 1-6.

The team has never won the NFC North. The Lions' last division crown came in 1993 when they topped the then-NFC Central with a 10-6 record.

Detroit became a popular pick to make a push in the NFC this offseason, which shocked Holmes.

"It was a little surprising for me because we didn't make the playoffs," Holmes said, per Woodyard. But the 44-year-old welcomes the excitement. "We're not scared of the expectations."

The Seattle Seahawks beat the Lions for the NFC's final wild-card spot in 2022. The teams both finished the campaign 9-8, but Seattle downed Detroit 48-45 in Week 4, thus winning the tiebreaker.