"It's Here": Sports Illustrated Profiles Super Bowl Caliber Lions

Detroit Lions are ready to break out and win the Super Bowl.

Detroit Lions Sports Illustrated cover / Clay Patrick McBride, @Sports Illustrated

The Detroit Lions are now a football team being analyzed from the perspective of what their actions mean in their pursuit of winning a Super Bowl.

In the past, putting the Lions in the same conversation as other Super Bowl contenders would get supporters ridiculed or laughed out of the room.

With faith diminishing and all but lost, Lions ownership decided to overhaul their organizations structure and hired a coach and general manager to oversee the transformation.

Sports Illustrated recently spent time with key figures at the team's Allen Park practice facility to learn what has factored into the Lions being on a fast track to the Super Bowl, just three years after hiring Dan Campbell and Brad Holmes.

The dynamic duo wanted to build a roster that could eventually police itself, regulate and demand the expectations remain at the highest levels possible.

It was about bypassing players in free agency with big contract demands to find gritty, hungry, competitive football players who could stand in the face of and overcome adversity.

Losing early, while painful and difficult, served as a reminder that a committed mindset of grinding and putting in the work would eventually pay dividends.

Conor Orr and Greg Bishop explained, "All of it suggests—no, screams—that these Lions are ready for more. More expectations. More wins. More success. They're ready to grab the wheel from Campbell and drive this franchise straight to New Orleans in February, to the Lions' first Super Bowl."

Holmes and Campbell never wavered in their plan to draft and develop talented players and then reward their efforts with lucrative, life-changing contract offers.

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"This offseason Goff, Sewell and St. Brown all signed massive contract extensions, securing themselves as tentpoles of the franchise for years to come. One last metaphor from the coach: Campbell holds his right arm toward the enclosed fire alarm lever just a few feet away. Break only in case of emergency," Sports Illustrated explained. "He has steadied the foundation and repaired all the walls. He has hauled away the trash and slathered on paint. It's Jared's team now. Penei's. Amon-Ra's. It belongs to Frank and Alex. It belongs to the people. To the church. To the letter writers. To the mothers and fathers who didn't get to see it. If they need him, they know where to find him."

From the time he began his role as coach of the Lions, Campbell and the organization have delivered on their promise to change the culture and to take this organization in a completely new direction.

"In the beginning, there was no much anger. So much failure. Now, all he promised is in sight. "It's here." Campbell tells Sports Illustrated, softening his voice just a bit. "It's here.""

To read Sports Illustrated's entire Lions feature, click here.