Matthew Stafford must lead the LA Rams as though he’s been here before

Destination: Retirement

For a moment, let’s take the way-back time travel machine and revisit the NFL career of Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford. To do so, we have to go back to the 2009 NFL Draft, and the moment that the selection of Georgia Bulldog quarterback Matthew Stafford gave hope for the city of Detroit to finally give them a Super Bowl-winning team.

Building a winner starts with a quarterback, but it does not end there. Winning teams need a special blend of youth and veteran, offense and defense, stars, and role players. The window to pull all of the pieces together is short in terms of an NFL player’s career.  During that time, a player needs to stay healthy.

Delayed development

That was not the case for Stafford. In his first two NFL seasons, he played just 13 of 32 games. That was a double whammy to the Detroit Lions organization. The team had invested a 6-year $72 million contract in their prize quarterback, and that meant that the clock to get him up to speed necessitated him to play and develop into a capable NFL hurler was pushed back nearly two years.

Eventually, Stafford did come back to play a full season in 2011. And that certainly seemed to be worth the wait. In that year, the Lions’ offense was very effective, ending the year as the fourth-ranked scoring offense in the NFL. But it was a bit of a mirage. The Lions’ passing offense was outstanding, but the team had the 29th-ranked rushing offense in the NFL.  That, paired with the 23rd-ranked run defense spelled postseason troubles for the team.

And so it was that the Rams entered the playoffs in 2011, but were bounced out after one game, losing to the New Orleans Saints by a score of 45-28.  The Lions would return to the playoffs again in 2014 and 2016. But the story was the same.  The Lions’ offense was fairly one-dimensional, and the front office failed to build a well-rounded team around their franchise quarterback. The Lions would wax good enough to compete in the NFL Playoffs, but would never cross that barrier of winning an NFL playoff game.

The pattern was a vicious cycle, and one that seemed doomed to repeat until Matthew Stafford finally hung up his cleats and retired.