Can I just close my eyes and we all just fast-forward to the regular season?

Can somehow we find a way to just let us fans skip out on the drama of the franchise tags, possible holdouts, needed contract restructurings and high-priced free agent negotiations? Or at least let me because I am about to start pulling my hair out, I just want to open my eyes at kick off on opening day of the first game and see who is actually suited up and ready to play football for the Detroit Lions.

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

It’d just be a lot easier that way, this crap is just too stressful for Lions slappies!

The latest discouraging free agent news is that Stephen Tulloch and the Lions aren’t even close to making a deal yet, this after hearing that Cliff Avril doesn’t believe in the hometown discount. We knew the price of success would cost the Lions organization. But what about us fans?

There is a ton of hand-wringing amongst Lions fans and it sucks. I see it everyday on my Lions facebook page.

Don’t get me wrong, I will take the hand-wringing along with the winning of course, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it!

Yesterday I wrote about the beauty of Martin Mayhew’s moves and he deserves all the credit he has gotten so far, but boy do we need he and Tom Lewand to pull a few rabbits out of the hat this offseason in order to keep this ship headed in the right direction at it’s current fast pace. This is a critical stage and things could go bad quickly if not handled correctly.

Stephen Tulloch is going to be extremely hard to replace if he bolts for Philadelphia, Tampa Bay or some other spot.

But it doesn’t seem realistic that the Lions can keep all of their young stars. How will they handle the price of winning?

It really feels like this year is THE critical year for this Lions franchise’s fate over the next 5-10 years.

This year seems to be the pivot year, will we make the moves to become true Super Bowl contenders or will be the Detroit Lions of the 1990′s? You remember them, talented and exciting teams that had just enough talent to torture and tease die-hard Lions fans into thinking we could win it all.

Man, those years made me a fan because of the hope that they always put in me, but what did they ever truly accomplish?

I don’t want that again, we loyal Lions fans DESERVE a Super Bowl, I don’t care what anyone says. And that’s why this offseason is so scary to me. I just feel like it’s now or never when I think about the next 5-10 years of Lions football and the possibility of this organization grasping that Lombardi Trophy.

The Lions may not be able to re-sign everybody, true. But out of Cliff Avril, Stephen Tulloch and everybody else that is coming up for free agency, the fan in me just wants it to be over with already. Whoever is going to be here, just be here and whoever is going to go, just go already!

I’m putting trust in Mayhew to decide who we can and can’t live without as a team. Boy, do I hope he plays these cards right.

The price of success isn’t something the Lions have had to pay over the last decade, lets just hope they are faced with paying the price of success EVERY offseason, even though it sure is hard on the fans. I need to figure out how to hibernate.

Related articles

• Lions In Dire Need Of Contract Restructuring To Keep Their Own Free Agents (lionsdetroit.com)
• Cliff Avril #4 on Top 50 Free Agents List – Is He Signable For The Detroit Lions? (lionsdetroit.com)
• The Brilliance Of Martin Mayhew: GM Moves That Made a Difference For The Detroit Lions (lionsdetroit.com)