Ford family was blamed as root of Detroit Lions issue: Now, Sheila Hamp is root of success
OK, you are probably still not over it.
One week won’t do it. Neither will a month.
It’s possible you will never get over the Detroit Lions' crushing loss to the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC championship game, especially because of how it went down.
The fumble. The failed fourth downs. The drops. The maculate reception off the facemask.
It was cruel and devastating, just being so close to a first Super Bowl.
But let's try to put this season into perspective.
Maybe, it’s time to shine a bright light on the person who changed everything.
If there is one who should get credit for drastically altering the course of this franchise, who put all of this in motion, who had the vision and belief of what was possible, putting the right people in the right roles, seemingly learning from her father’s mistakes, at times going against conventional wisdom and trusting her gut, it was Sheila Hamp, the principal owner.
"To do what we've been able to do, man, you gotta have the right ownership," Lions coach Dan Campbell said in the locker room, talking to his team, after the regular season-ending 30-20 victory over the Minnesota Vikings. "And it is the Ford family, but Sheila is the one we deal with, man, on a day-to-day basis, and without her ..."
Campbell gave Hamp a game ball.
"You guys are the best,” Hamp told the team, “and we've just begun."
Hamp was the one who hired Chris Spielman — the former Lions great, who worked behind the scenes in relative quiet, pumping his heart and soul through this organization, just as he did as a player.
Together, they hired general manager Brad Holmes and Campbell — the unlikely duo who quickly formed a tight, bro-hugging bond — “I love you man.”
Together, all of them tore this organization down to the studs and started to rebuild it, creating a new culture, flipping the roster, focusing on players with character.
Focusing on grit.
And yes, if there is one reason for hope for the future, I start with Hamp.
Starting in rough seas
To fully put this amazing Lions season into perspective — the team’s first NFC North title, the franchise-record 14 wins and those electric home playoff victories at Ford Field — we need to go back to the most pivotal moment in recent franchise history.
It was October 2022.
The Lions were playing horrible football — and let me stress, that wasn’t that long ago, folks.
There was growing heat and scrutiny on Holmes and Campbell for understandable reason. The Lions were playing sloppy football, showing little discipline, with the worst scoring defense in the league and a turnover prone offense.
To make it worse, the Lions were fragile and inconsistent, at that point, unable to win the close ones under Campbell, going 1-7-1 in games decided by four points or less. After getting punked 29-0 at New England, Campbell called it “rock bottom.”
But it wasn’t.
The Lions lost their next two.
Putting Hamp in tough spot
Now, think about this moment from Hamp’s perspective.
The Lions are a family owned business; and even though the Fords are billionaires, they are still people.
It’s still a family.
And if there’s one thing I know, one thing that is universal no matter how big your bank account is, family dynamics can get messy and complicated.
Can you imagine what it would be like if your brother or sister took over the family business — even if you agreed to it — and everything seemed to get worse?
Granted, the Lions didn’t have a history of winning, to say the least.
But at that moment, Campbell’s 4-18-1 record (.196 winning percentage) was on pace to be far worse than the disaster that he was following in Matt Patricia (.314 in Detroit).
Can you imagine all the family dynamics at play at that moment? After Hamp sat down in the big chair, replacing her mother?
There had to be immense pressure on Hamp after she hired a 44-year-old coach and a 41-year-old first time GM, and put them together like an arraigned marriage, and they kept losing.
Not just pressure from the fans and the media.
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But from inside the Ford family.
Admittedly, that’s speculation on my part.
But that’s what would happen in many families.
I’m pointing out all the reasons why it was so impressive what she did next.
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Showing true leadership
Hamp didn’t freak out. Didn’t panic. Didn’t waver.
She came out and supported Campbell and Holmes in the most important moment in this rebuild, trying to ease some of the pressure on them.
“Our rebuild is hard, but we really believe in our process,” Hamp told reporters Oct. 26, 2022. “We’re going to turn this thing around the right way, through the draft. It requires patience. It’s frustrating. Am I frustrated? Absolutely ...
“But I think we really are making progress. We’ve seen it. It’s just — this was a huge teardown and then turnaround. ... I just don’t want everyone to push the panic button and give up the ship, because I think we’ve got the right people in place to pull this off. ... I really believe in the top leadership in this organization, and I think we’ve got the people to do it, to carry this out.”
Magical turnaround
Since then?
Well, Hamp looks brilliant.
The Lions have gone 22-9, claimed the NFC North and won two playoff games for the first time in a lifetime — well, for everyone under 67.
Or think of it this way: William Clay Ford, Hamp’s father, owned the team for 50 years and had just one playoff win to show for it.
Hamp has run the show since June 2020 and the Lions have two.
Even though the loss in San Francisco was heartbreaking, the future looks even brighter because of the stability, which starts with Hamp and flows to the coaching staff, especially with both coordinators returning.
But I’m not just talking about the action on the field.
The winning is just a reflection of something deeper at play.
Everything in the organization seems in sync. The product on the field speaks for itself. But the atmosphere in Ford Field has become electric. Yes, it was mostly from the winning and decades of pent-up excitement. But using Eminem on hype videos shown on the scoreboard — “Lets go, Detroit!” — was perfect. The games started to take on a life of their own, the blinking lights and music and videos and that crazed, ear-shattering atmosphere helped propel this team to the NFC championship game.
It was as if the fans, the players, the coaches, the front office and ownership are in sync for the first time in ages.
Now, let me throw out some more telling stats.
Campbell’s two playoff victories make him tied for second in franchise history with George Wilson (1957-64) and he is just one playoff win behind franchise-leader Buddy Parker (1951-56).
Yes, that’s both impressive while also depressing, considering the history of this franchise.
Which brings us back to Hamp and the job she has done.
Again, it’s time to repeat: she put all of this in motion.
There were times Hamp looked like the captain of a freighter during a nasty storm, trying to turn it around in rough seas, as waves crashed and the winds of history pelted her in the face.
But she did it. And it’s clearly heading in the right direction now.
This team will return the core of its starters and is poised for another playoff run.
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Obviously, it won’t be easy.
They are gonna take everybody’s best shot.
But that stinging loss should serve as constant motivation. It should be a huge lesson in the importance of winning the No. 1 seed and getting homefield advantage through the entire playoffs. It should offer a simple recipe to improvement: Upgrade the secondary and get a pass rusher for starters.
Finally, if there is one slice of comfort, as fans continue to deal with this loss, it should be a realization that the window is still open.
As Campbell said so eloquently, "to do what we've been able to do, man, you gotta have the right ownership …"
It’s clear, after all these years, they finally have it.
For years, the Ford family was blamed as the root of the problem.
But now, under Hamp, it has flipped: She is the root of the success.
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Contact Jeff Seidel: jseidel@freepress.com. Follow him @seideljeff.
To read his recent columns, go to freep.com/sports/jeff-seidel.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Sheila Hamp big reason for Detroit Lions sudden success
