Lions GM Brad Holmes: Confidence 'very high' we can win NFC North

Detroit finished 2022 on a heater, fueling expectations greater than the Lions have seen in many, many years.

It's just about time to start delivering on them.

General manager Brad Holmes met with reporters Friday, six days before the Lions kick off their highly anticipated 2023 campaign with a road date against the defending Super Bowl champion Kanas City Chiefs (Sept. 7 at 8:20 p.m. ET on NBC). Detroit won't be expected to win by most, but that doesn't tell the tale of where the Lions are aiming this season.

"It's not so much about the start, we all want to start fast, and you don't want to be in a 1-6 hole again, but we're just taking it step by step, phase by phase really, and that's just how we roll," Holmes said.

Holmes spoke of Detroit being an "aligned" organization, from player evaluation to locker room leadership, a goal for most that the GM believes the Lions have realized. But a valid response exists here: What have you even done?

Detroit started, as Holmes noted above, 1-6 last season, then finished by winning eight of their final 10 games, narrowly missing the playoffs. The impact of coach Dan Campbell -- which fans witnessed intimately in Hard Knocks -- was finally visible in Detroit's games.

But for a presser taking place less than a week before the start of the regular season, there was a bit of a congratulatory tone that didn't quite fit the timeline.

Detroit is -- finally -- a popular preseason pick to win the NFC North, which the Lions haven't accomplished since 1993 back when they were in the NFC Central. Thirty years is a long time to wait for anything. It's fair to be excited.

"Very high," Holmes said when asked for his level of confidence his Lions can win the division. "I do think that we've, let's call