This season of the HBO reality series “Hard Knocks” featuring the Detroit Lions is wildly entertaining, but two episodes in the most surprised reaction I’ve had is: What took so long?
Fans know all too well that this franchise invented “hard knocks”: In the 21 years since the program has been aired, the Lions have gone 113-222-2 and have had twice as many head coaches (9) as they have winning seasons (4).
The reason “Hard Knocks” finally picked the Lions has a lot to do with that 9th coach – Dan Campbell. The former NFL tight end has an enthusiasm bordering on fanatical.
Even though the Lions went 3-13-1 in Campbell’s first year last season, he oozed genuine conviction in his players, coaches and his plan for making the Lions a contender. And the fan base has responded.
“I do think like half of Detroit is drunk on Kool Aid right now,” said Kyle Meinke, the MLive lead Lions reporter. “I was in Trader Joe’s last week and I can hear a very loud conversation about ‘Hard Knocks.’ I turned the corner expecting to see someone in Lions (gear), but it’s just a clerk and customers.”
There’s plenty of football in “Hard Knocks,” which will run for five episodes (10 p.m. Tuesdays) and then be available for streaming. But it also delves into culture building, the personalities of coaches and players, and the grind of training camp.
You’ll get to know players like first-round draft choice and hometown hero Aidan Hutchinson (Plymouth, University of Michigan); animated assistant coaches like Duce Staley and Aaron Glenn; and veterans who are being asked to step up as leaders. But there is no question about the emotional center of it all.
“It all starts with Dan Campbell,” said Ben Raven, Meinke’s reporting partner on the Lions beat. “He knows how to connect with players because he's been in that position before. He's as genuine as it gets. There's not a fake thing about that guy. He’s the star of the show for a reason.”
Meinke and Raven agree that the training camp viewers are witnessing in “Hard Knocks” is authentic, and not being amped up for the HBO film crew. But they’ve had to remember that everything, and everyone, is being recorded at all times.
“I know God's watching,” Meinke joked. “They blend in so well you forget they're there.It’s not state secrets or anything, but you have to know you're mic’d up, maybe the guy next to you is mic’d up.”
That was evident 10 minutes into Episode 1: A reporter for another news outlet, in his first press conference covering the Lions, had his phone’s sleep alarm go off while Campbell was talking. When that happened under previous Lions coach Matt Patricia, reporters got skewered. Instead, Campbell good-naturedly teased the reporter.
Raven went up to the offender afterward and told him that under Patricia, “We’d still be looking for you.” And that small moment, he says, illustrates a facet of Campbell that is feeding a new, healthier culture.
“Instead of (Campbell) having negative headlines for a week and completely damaging his appearance to the outside world, he was like ‘I'll brush it under the rug by being a normal human being for five minutes.’”
Meinke and Raven cohost a Detroit Lions podcast called “Dungeon of Doom,” which is a must-listen for all Lions fans. In a recent episode they interviewed Shannon Furman, the director of the “Hard Knocks” franchise. She’s been around camps for decades, and said this is the most positive organization she’s covered.
“There’s a really positive vibe around the organization right now. You can feel it with the fan base coming out to practice, the guys in the meeting room, everybody’s really receptive to what Dan is doing here,” Furman said. “There’s a very optimistic vibe around this team, and high energy, too.”
Culture change is a good – and necessary – for the long-suffering Lions franchise. But culture doesn’t suit up and smack pads on Sunday. Will this year’s roster have enough talent to win?
“I'm in my 10th Lions training camp, but I can tell you that it does feel different,” Meinke said. “A lot is dependent on luck, injuries and then of course, the talent. I think they have what it takes to compete at least for a wildcard (playoff seed).”
Raven agrees.
“I'm in the seven- to nine-win ballpark, too. It’s easy to feel good about the direction this thing is going based on the culture building, based on what you're seeing in ‘Hard Knocks.”
Come January, we’ll see how far the culture can take this weary franchise. Even if it ends the way we fear, “Hard Knocks” is showing that we’ll be entertained along the way.
🎧 In this episode, John Hiner and Eric Hultgren talk with the Dungeon of Doom to talk about the Detroit Lions, the HBO Max documentary Hard Knocks, preseason, and is this the year?. Listen here.
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John Hiner is the vice president of content for MLive Media Group. If you have questions you’d like him to answer, or topics to explore, share your thoughts at editor@mlive.com.
