What the Detroit Lions Can Teach Us About Running on EOS
Let me preface this article by saying that I could easily make the comparison of any team sport to EOS (the Entrepreneurial Operating System), but I’ve chosen to focus on the Detroit Lions football organization because
A) I absolutely love this team and this city;
B) Their turnaround over the last several years has been incredible to watch; and
C) EOS was founded by Detroit-rooted Gino Wickman, so the comparison just makes sense.
If any of you have been following the Detroit Lions' transformation over the past few years, you’ll recognize that it wasn't the result of one superstar, one lucky draft, or one magical season. It was the result of building a healthy organization with the right people, clear accountability, disciplined execution, and an unwavering long-term vision - the same principles that EOS teaches businesses every day. Although football and business are very different games, winning consistently requires remarkably similar disciplines. Great organizations don't rely on talent alone. They build systems that allow talent to thrive.
So let’s start with a historical picture of this team…
The "Before" Picture — Rock Bottom Is a Starting Line, Not a Verdict
Before head coach Dan Campbell and GM Brad Holmes were hired in January 2021:
The Detroit Lions won just one playoff game between their 1957 NFL Championship and the 2023 season - a January 5, 1992 win over the Dallas Cowboys. (Their only other appearance in a conference championship game in that stretch was in 1991, a 41-10 loss to Washington.)
Between that 1992 win and 2023, Detroit made the postseason eight more times and lost every single one - a nine-game playoff losing streak, the longest in NFL playoff history. All told, they're one of only four NFL franchises to never make a Super Bowl.
The 2008 Lions finished 0–16, the first team to go winless since the schedule expanded to 16 games in 1978. They gave up a franchise-record 517 points that season, and head coach Rod Marinelli was fired the day after the season ended. We’ll call this moment rock bottom.
That 0-16 finish is directly what produced the Matt Stafford quarterback era - the top overall pick in 2009 was the consolation prize for one of the worst seasons in NFL history.
Now with the #1 draft pick in 2009, the Lions surely would see a turnaround with Matt Stafford, who appeared to be the RPRS (Right Person in the Right Seat) for the quarterback position. In the 12 seasons Matt was with the Lions (2009–2020), he threw for 45,109 yards, 282 touchdowns, and 144 interceptions with an 89.9 passer rating - all franchise records for a Lions quarterback. Despite that individual production, he made the playoffs only three times with Detroit (games played in January 2012, 2014, and 2017) and lost all three appearances. He made just one Pro Bowl in Detroit despite being the statistical outlier on an otherwise struggling roster.
Matt Stafford was eventually traded to the Los Angeles Rams, where he won a Super Bowl almost immediately. This is a strong proof-point that quarterback talent alone was never the problem… it was the system. Every business (and team) has a "2008 season" - the point where the old operating model visibly fails. This is the moment leadership either commits to a shakeup and a new system, or keeps limping along with the same failing one.
The Lions finally snapped their 32-year playoff win drought by beating Stafford himself and the Rams, 24-23, in the 2023 Wild Card round. So the lesson here is a humbling one… rock bottom is just a starting line, not a verdict.
Installing the Model — The Parallels to EOS
Let’s fast forward to recent years since bringing Dan Campbell and Brad Holmes into the franchise. A turnaround like the one the Lions have seen in the last 5 years needs both a Visionary-type culture-setter (Dan Campbell) and an Integrator-type builder of process and personnel (Brad Holmes) - what a powerful V/I duo, would you say?!
Dan’s strategy for this turnaround was simple… vision before victories. Like EOS, Dan recognized that in order for this team to win championships, he needed to get everyone in the organization on the same page with where they were going. He did this by repeatedly emphasizing the need to build the team's culture (toughness, resilience, selflessness, accountability, a team-first mentality) before expecting wins; and his early seasons certainly included losing records before the team became a consistent contender. In business, companies often want quarterly results before they've aligned leadership, clarified accountability, or strengthened culture. EOS teaches us to first build the organization, establish the cadence, strengthen the systems, and the results will follow.
As Dan focused on refining the culture of the franchise, Brad set to work on redesigning the roster… a true GWC (Gets It-Wants It-Has the Capacity to Do It) assessment of the team’s Accountability Chart across the board. These guys rebuilt large portions of the Lions’ roster through the draft, moved on from numerous veteran players during the rebuild, invested heavily in developing younger players, and retained players who fit their culture, not just those with impressive talent. Many companies keep talented people in the wrong roles because they're afraid to make changes. But Dan and Brad’s decisions reflected remarkable long-term discipline rather than short-term thinking: in EOS terms, they had their eyes set on the 1-year Plan, the 3-year Picture, and the ultimate 10-year Target when it came to team composition. Trading Matt Stafford for Jared Goff was a bittersweet risk in the eyes of many - yet this V/I duo are proving that talent alone isn’t enough to win. Cultural fit matters.
And this blog wouldn’t be giving credit where credit is due without mentioning the massive impact offensive coordinator Ben Johnson and defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn had on this team’s turnaround success. These two beloved leaders were developed within the Lions’ new system, and eventually moved on to head-coaching opportunities elsewhere. Despite the emotional reaction Lions fans had to Ben and Aaron’s departure, this is simply a real-world case of a well-run organization producing leaders who earned opportunities to lead organizations of their own - which is a feature of a strong culture, not a flaw.
The Scoreboard — What Traction Actually Looks Like
The traction the Detroit Lions have gained since the start of this turnaround is simply remarkable:
2022: 9–8 finish, 2nd place in the NFC North, did not qualify for the playoffs. The Lions were eliminated from playoff contention for the sixth consecutive season - but notably, they closed the year by beating the Green Bay Packers, a result that simultaneously knocked their division rival out of the playoff picture and hinted the roster was finally becoming competitive.
2023: 12–5 finish, first division title since 1993, first NFC North title since the division's 2002 realignment, their best winning percentage since 1991. Playoffs: won Wild Card and Divisional rounds before losing the NFC Championship at San Francisco, 31–34.
2024: Franchise-record 15–2 season, a second straight division title, and the franchise's first-ever No. 1 seed in the NFC, including sweeping the NFC North for the first time. Lost in the Divisional round to Washington, 31–45.
2025: 9–8 finish, missed the playoffs, finished last in the NFC North (an IDS - Identify, Discuss, Solve - moment, anyone?!). Even a well-built system needs continuous discipline, or the standard slips.
After steady improvement year over year since 2021, the team hit a snag in 2025 with injuries and player performance issues putting a dent in their progress. This is what an EOS-driven Rock-by-Rock, quarter-over-quarter accountability cadence produces - not instant perfection, but compounding, measurable progress that shows up on the scorecard (or scoreboard). A single off-season doesn't invalidate the model any more than a single off-quarter invalidates EOS. It's a signal to get back to the fundamentals. The path to the top of the mountain is not always a straight line.
But traction hasn’t just shown up in this team's record - it’s shown up in this city's bottom line. When the Lions ended their 32-year playoff win drought in January 2024, Ford Field sold out season tickets for the first time since the stadium opened in 2002, and the ripple effect hit downtown almost immediately. Each home playoff game that postseason pumped an estimated $20 million into the city, and by the time the Lions reached the Divisional round, Visit Detroit put the single-game economic impact north of $50 million - a figure their own spokesperson compared to hosting a Taylor Swift concert. Local businesses have felt it directly: a Greektown hotel reported a 35–40% jump in Sunday-night reservations. A year later, the impact hasn't leveled off - it’s grown. The Lions' 2025 Divisional round matchup against Washington was projected to generate roughly $65 million in combined direct and indirect economic activity for the city.
This Lions organization is experiencing the same lessons that EOS teaches at the business level, just playing out on a civic scale: a healthy, well-run operating system doesn't just win for the people running it. It generates value for everyone standing near it - the fans buying tickets, the hotel three blocks from the stadium, the bartender who's been pouring drinks in the same spot for twenty years, the gift shops proudly selling gear that represents their team and their city. When Dan Campbell and Brad Holmes set out to fix the Lions, they weren't just building a football team. They were rebuilding a piece of Detroit's identity, and the city's economy noticed.
The Role of the Owner — The Courage to Let Leaders Lead
No discussion of the Lions' turnaround would be complete without recognizing franchise owner Sheila Ford Hamp. Great organizations often begin with ownership, and Hamp deserves tremendous credit for creating an environment where football leadership could lead. After hiring General Manager Brad Holmes and Head Coach Dan Campbell in 2021, she has consistently supported their long-term vision through both early struggles and eventual success. Rather than reacting to short-term adversity with constant change, the Lions maintained continuity in leadership and allowed their plan to unfold. That's a lesson every Visionary can appreciate: hire exceptional leaders, align around a shared vision, and give them the trust and stability to execute.
The Standard, Not the Trophy
Here's the uncomfortable truth both EOS practitioners and Lions fans have had to sit with: the scoreboard doesn't lie, but it also doesn't tell the whole story. Detroit still hasn't won it all. Not yet. And if you're being honest with your own business, you probably haven't either… not in the way you originally pictured it when you started.
But that was never really the point of installing a system in the first place.
What Dan Campbell and Brad Holmes built in Detroit isn't a team that got lucky for two seasons. It's an organization that now knows how to win - repeatedly, disciplined, quarter over quarter - even when a single season goes sideways. That's the difference between a hot streak and a healthy operating system: one is a moment, the other is a machine. Moments end. Machines compound.
If you're a Visionary or Integrator reading this and wondering whether your own "2008 season" disqualifies you from ever building something real - it doesn't. Rock bottom was never Detroit's verdict. It was their starting line. The same is true for your business, your leadership team, and the vision you haven't fully cashed in on yet.
Gino Wickman didn't build EOS in a boardroom theory exercise. He built it from turning around a business that was, in his own words, deeply in debt. Dan Campbell didn't inherit a contender - he inherited a franchise most of the league had written off. Neither one of them got there by chasing a single big win. They got there by installing a system, trusting it through the losing seasons, and refusing to abandon it the moment it got hard.
Could I have written this article about another franchise? Absolutely. But there is something fitting about a Detroit football team illustrating principles created by a Detroit entrepreneur. Whether you're chasing a Lombardi Trophy or building a great business, healthy organizations win for remarkably similar reasons.
That's the real lesson sitting underneath every stat in this article: talent doesn't build legacies. Systems do. And the leaders willing to build one (even when nobody's applauding yet) are the ones still standing when the trophy finally shows up.
