CAMP SIGHTS: Detroit Lions

ALLEN PARK, Mich.

The road to respectability begins in the parking lot at Detroit Lions headquarters. Behind-the-scenes ugliness from last year's winless season manifested itself here. Some players seemed more concerned about scoring a parking spot close to the building than working to avoid the NFL's first 0-16 record. Petty arguments ensued. A few Lions even began parking illegally rather than have to schlep from a little further away. "It showed a lack of priorities and focus," Lions general manager Martin Mayhew recently told FOXSports.com. "You get bogged down in someone parking in your spot or who parked where. That's a product of not having success on the field when you start looking at other things to be mad about." Enter Jim Schwartz: New head coach and parking attendant. Among his first orders of business after being hired was to assign every player a designated spot. Veterans according to seniority were given those closest to the building. Schwartz even personally timed the 75-second walk from the furthest space into the locker room just to insure the distance wasn't unreasonable when the Michigan winter begins. Some players still had the gall to kvetch until realizing it would get them nowhere. "A lot of guys complained about it for like half a day and then they adjusted," said Schwartz, who introduced the new parking system in March. "Now, we've got good order and you know who's parking next to you every day." "Order" being the key word. Parking is just one example of Schwartz's attention to detail and the little things besides Xs and Os that help build a winning team. Those elements weren't the strength of predecessor Rod Marinelli, who overestimated the ability of Detroit's players to police themselves. "Rod was very focused on football," Lions left tackle Jeff Backus said. "He left it up to us to take the responsibility of dealing with everything else. Schwartz has very clearly mapped out how he wants things done throughout the whole building, the parking lot, everything. He doesn't want any problems to arise. There are no questions. Just do it that way." Added kicker Jason Hanson: "He recognizes those little things you deal with as an NFL team and took charge. He didn't just throw it to the side and say, 'You're supposed to be men. Take care of it yourself.' That never works. We're a bunch of kids in the locker room." Well-defined team rules aren't the only change in Detroit. A change in the offseason workout program resulted in a 21-percent increase in overall team strength. Following a slew of veteran acquisitions, roster turnover from 2008 could reach as high as 60 percent entering the regular season. The influx of so many new faces who didn't have to endure an 0-16 campaign has helped Detroit move past a season Backus aptly coined a "disaster." "There's only one winner at the end of the year," said Lions middle linebacker Larry Foote, who played last season for the Super Bowl XLIII champion Pittsburgh Steelers. "What's the difference between being 0-16 and getting bounced out of the first round of the playoffs? It doesn't matter." Schwartz and Mayhew, who was promoted from assistant general manager in December, also have worked to end the previous derision between the team's coaching and scouting staffs under former top executive Matt Millen. "What we've really developed here is a strong level of trust throughout the building," said Lions president Tom Lewand, who also was promoted after the 2008 season. "There have been no hidden agendas. Good, bad or indifferent — everything is communicated. We don't try to placate anybody. We've avoided a lot of the things that create drama and really prevent you from accomplishing what you want, which is putting the best team on the field and winning championships." The words "championships" and "Lions" haven't gone together in the same sentence since 1957 when the franchise won its third NFL crown in a six-season stretch. Detroit hasn't reached the playoffs this decade or posted a winning record since 2000. "Cash for Clunkers" has taken on a whole new meaning for the Ford auto magnates who own the team. Yet there is renewed hope for the future starting with the first overall pick in April's draft. The Lions are banking upon Matthew Stafford — figuratively and literally considering his $41.7 million in guaranteed salary — to avoid the same pitfalls that doomed Detroit's other high quarterback picks like Joey Harrington and Andre Ware. Schwartz has declared an open competition between Stafford and veteran Daunte Culpepper for the starting spot. Culpepper seems to have the early advantage after Saturday's preseason-opening victory against Atlanta. He completed five of six passes for 41 yards in a relatively nondescript outing. But Culpepper didn't make the same huge mistake as Stafford, who had an errant throw intercepted and returned for a touchdown. Stafford did immediately rebound by capping an 80-yard drive with a 25-yard touchdown pass to Derrick Williams. Schwartz, though, doesn't appear inclined to rush Stafford onto the field. "He's going to be our quarterback at some point," said Schwartz, who served as Tennessee's defensive coordinator the previous eight seasons. "But the criteria he's going to have to pass is that he's ready and he's our best quarterback. "He's smart. He has all the physical tools. My 8-year-old son can identify that. But it's the other things that make a quarterback — his ability to lead, his command of the offense. You've got to be resilient and thick-skinned." Armor plating would be helpful in Detroit, where a struggling Harrington and his "Joey Blue Skies" positive thinking were run out of town several years ago. Besides all the losing, the nation's economic recession has added to the angst of local Lions fans. The area's unemployment rate hit 17.1 percent in June. Even so, Lewand projects the Lions will have only a relatively modest 10-percent drop in season-ticket sales (he declined to provide specific totals). A Detroit native, Lewand believes the Lions can provide a much-needed boost to community morale by regaining their roar.

"They call this Hockey Town U.S.A. because of the Stanley Cup chase, but this really is a football city," Lewand said. "I think people want to see Detroit succeed. Maybe there's a little perspective on the auto industry and the heart of American manufacturing. To see something happening to that is tough for the entire country. It does engender a certain degree of sympathy for our community. "But it also gives us a chance to tell everyone what Detroiters are all about. They're tough and blue-collar. They're going to fight and keep fighting. When they see a team put together in that image and likeness, it makes it easy for them to get behind it." It's now on the Lions to leave behind 2008 — parking lot and all. "This is a great sports town," said Hanson, who has spent all 18 of his NFL seasons with the Lions. "What a huge letdown to have a team they would love to love be un-rootable when you're 0-16. Just the misery of that is bad. And then outside of the locker room, you remember that nobody cares. 'Oh, you play for the Lions. You're horrible.' You have a certain pride about what you do playing professional football and you care about the guys in the locker room. "Nobody cares about you when you're 0-16."