The time has come to see what Lions are made of

Detroit -- Go beat the Bears.

That's all that matters now that the Lions' preseason is over, and mercifully so, ending without serious injury or incident Thursday night in a 28-23 victory over the Buffalo Bills at Ford Field.

Matthew Stafford threw a quick interception and soon after called it a night. Jahvid Best didn't play. Neither did Louis Delmas and DeAndre Levy among a half-dozen idle starters.

So while I'm thinking of it, here's a suggestion for NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and his "enhanced season" proposal: How about just replacing a couple exhibition games with Eminem concerts? It sure sounded like they were having a lot more fun across the street Thursday night.

But back to the more realistic proposal: It's time for these Lions to go make good on their promise, such that it is, by packing for a season-opening road trip next week and then leaving some baggage behind in Chicago.

Everybody at the team's kickoff luncheon Wednesday was busy talking about the "buzz" around town as fans see signs of hope in some of the Lions' offseason moves.

"I can't wait for the season to begin, and actually, neither can our fans," Lions vice chairman Bill Ford Jr. said. "I think the buzz around this team this year in this city is as loud as I've heard it in many years. And I think it's for good reason."

Reasons to believe

Time will tell, of course. But now it's time to give the fans a real reason. Hope, as coach Jim Schwartz likes to say, is not a strategy. At least it shouldn't be in Detroit anymore.

At the end of last season, I made a list of New Year's resolutions for the Lions in 2010. (For the newspaper, mind you, not for my own entertainment.) And so far, so good.

They drafted Ndamukong Suh -- hey, the best resolutions are the attainable ones, right? -- after they'd made a splash in free agency, signing Kyle Vanden Bosch and Nate Burleson. Lions general manager Martin Mayhew made his list and checked it twice, at least in my book.

The third item was a healthy return for Kevin Smith and Brandon Pettigrew, and for all the talk about Smith's uncertain future lately, the truth is they're both ahead of schedule barely eight months removed from ACL surgery.

Now, though, it's time to tackle the next resolution: End that 20-game road losing streak. End it now, before it's too late, as ridiculous as that may sound.

The Lions already own the NFL record with a 24-game road skid from 2001-04. And they'll run the risk of matching that if they can't win next week at Soldier Field, the scene of their last road win way back on Oct. 28, 2007. (Only 10 players remain on the roster from that game, by the way.) The next three road dates after Chicago: Minnesota, Green Bay and the New York Giants.

More than that, though, the Lions run the risk of eroding whatever goodwill they've built up since January and the end of a 2-14 season.

"It's OK to cheer for this team," Schwartz told the crowd at Wednesday's kickoff luncheon. "It's OK to put yourself out there as a fan. I've been a fan of a lot of teams since I was a little kid, and I've experienced some of the same things that people of Detroit have experienced. So many times you put yourselves out there as a fan and you get your heart broken. And every time that you get your heart broken, you tend to put yourself out there a little bit less.

"But it's OK to come back, it's OK to root for this team."

It's OK to expect something more, too, even though the Lions' defense surely will break some more hearts this fall.

Gotta start somewhere

Beating the Bears is hardly out of the question. On paper, Lovie Smith's team in Chicago looks like a .500 club, at best, and a shaky preseason has done nothing to change that opinion.

This will come as a shock to Lions fans, I know, but Chicago's new offensive coordinator, Mike Martz, just might be too smart for these average Bears. He's demanding perfection from a receiving corps that's probably not capable. He's expecting patience from a quarterback that's best known for his petulance. And he's putting all sorts of pressure on an inexperienced offensive line, which had given up a league-high 16 sacks in the first three preseason games.

And I haven't even mentioned the fact that Rod Marinelli is the Bears' newly-promoted defensive coordinator, have I?

So, yes, it's possible.

I'll stop short of calling it a must-win game. That'd be silly, especially since I don't expect this team to win more than a half-dozen games in 2010.

But I will say this: There's no time like the present to start winning back the fans.

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