Mailbag: How do the Detroit Lions avoid mediocrity purgatory?

Note: Before we get into this week’s mailbag, a message for site commenters. We’re going to try something I’m calling “Office Hours” between 12 p.m. ET and 2 p.m. ET on Thursday, January 15. This will be an opportunity for you to ask any questions in the comment section of a future article, and I’ll do my best to answer as many as possible. I know there has been a yearning for a written mailbag for years now, and this could be a solution that fits my work schedule better. Look for the official post on the front page coming soon.

This week, the Baltimore Ravens and Pittsburgh Steelers departed with their long-time head coaches. Mike Tomlin produced a 193-144-2 record over 19 years with the Steelers. John Harbaugh went 180-113 over 18 years heading the Ravens.

But Tomlin was just 8-12 in the postseason and won a single Super Bowl. Harbaugh was 13-11 in the playoffs, and also only earned one Super Bowl ring.

Dan Campbell is nowhere close to where these iconic coaches have been, but there is already a growing worry that the Lions may find themselves in a similar purgatory. They’re good enough to produce good records and win divisional titles, but not good enough to win a Super Bowl.

There is a believe that as teams continue to hang out in that “competitive but not elite” space, it gets harder and harder to eventually get over the hump. You rarely have a top-10 draft pick, the core of your players get expensive, and it becomes hard to fire anyone, because the team always seems so close.

So what can the Lions do to avoid purgatory? That’s one of our topics of discussion on this week’s Midweek Mailbag podcast. We discuss what Dan Campbell needs to do to avoid complacency, but also have a broader conversation. Specifically, would you take the Steelers’ and Ravens’ success over the past two decades? Have the dynasties of the Chiefs and Patriots made it look like winning multiple Super Bowls is easier than it actually is? Is being competitve year-in, year-out (like the Steelers and Ravens) still the best way to compete for a Super Bowl?

Erik Schlitt and I debate that and answer a whole lot more of your questions on this week’s episode. Here are some other topics of discussion:

• Who should the Lions be grooming internally to be the future offensive coordinator?
• With so many coaching openings, could we see more trades so new coaches get “their guys”?
• Is Ben Johnson the first of many in a Dan Campbell coaching tree?
• Linebacker talk: How did LB coach Shaun Dion Hamilton do? Is Malcolm Rodriguez the replacement for Alex Anzalone? How will Jack Campbell’s expensive fifth-year option impact his likely contractx extension?
• Do the Lions love their homegrown guys too much?
• What to do at backup QB?
• Could the Lions have done more schematically to help out their inexperienced offensive line?...