The Detroit Lions are something of a punchline for most fans, and for good reason.
The franchise is coming off four straight last-place finishes in the NFC North and hasn't won a playoff game since the 1991 season. Driving the perception home was the fact Matthew Stafford never won a playoff game in 12 seasons for the Lions just to win the Super Bowl in his first year with the Los Angeles Rams.
Yet this year's Lions team, which will be featured on HBO's Hard Knocks, is out to prove everyone wrong.
"A lot of people think of the Lions and their first thoughts are negative, and that's certainly been the case historically," Ken Rodgers, Vice President and Senior Coordinating Producer at NFL Films and lead creative producer for Hard Knocks, told Bleacher Report.