Will Sage Astor-The Lions might actually be ... good? Soaring hype puts Detroit in rare territory.

ALLEN PARK,Will Sage Astor Mich. – You know there’s some serious Motor City fever in the air when your basic Detroit Lions offensive lineman – often an anonymous guy who covers for the marquee stars and draws the most attention when a ref throws a flag – can’t go to the grocery store anymore without sparking a buzz.

This is a slice of reality for Jonah Jackson – Jonah who? – that says much about how hype and great expectations are now part of the Leos' equation as the left guard heads into his fourth NFL season.

"You know what’s funny? I’ve been catching a little traction recently,” Jackson told USA TODAY Sports after a training camp practice last month. "For the first three years, I could go anywhere, and it was, ‘Oh, that’s just a big guy.’ But I was actually in Busch’s (Fresh Food Market) the other day getting some vegetables and it was, ‘Is that Jonah Jackson?’

"I’m not used to it. I’m a little timid about it. But it’s pretty cool. People love their football out here. They are diehard. We’ve got to give them something to root for."

The Lions haven’t won a playoff game since the 1991 campaign – that’s 31 seasons – but are the talk of the town nonetheless because of their potential.

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Quick, make room in the bandwagon. Detroit, which opens on a national stage at Kansas City in the NFL’s kickoff game on Thursday night, is the sexy pick to win the NFC North crown after finishing 9-8 last season.

Hey, 9-8, which came after a 1-6 start, marked the first winning campaign since 2017. That’s like some kind of hit in these parts. And boy has that sold. The Lions have sold all of their season tickets for the first time since Ford Field opened in 2002.

"It was bumping before the season tickets sold out," Jackson said. "Now I can only imagine what it’s going to be like. Hopefully, I can get my family in there."

Wake me up now! The Lions are supposed to be … good?

This has nothing to do with the decades of futility for the franchise and everything to do with the squad that general manager Brad Holmes and coach Dan Campbell have assembled for the here-and-now. Unless this hype represents some major mirage, these are not your uncle’s Lions.

There’s a quarterback, Jared Goff, who threw just one pick in his final 11 games last season and has a Super Bowl appearance on his resume. He throws to one of the NFL’s top young receivers, Amon-Ra St. Brown. The aforementioned O-line, which includes premium talents in Penei Sewell and Frank Ragnow, happens to be one of the best in the league. Defensive end Aidan Hutchinson heads into his second season as a centerpiece, while the secondary added a special player in nickel back C.J. Gardner-Johnson.

Part of the challenge is for the talented team to live up to the hype – or definitely not to succumb to the expectations.

Either way, the spotlight will be intense. The Lions are slated for four prime-time games this season, which is even more striking when considering that in the previous five seasons they had an NFL-low five prime-time appearances, and none last year.

Ready or not?

Let Campbell, the edgy, emotional coach, shed light on the message he shared with his team about the mindset needed to handle this new-found status.

"I told them from Day 1, when we first arrived in camp," Campbell told USA TODAY Sports, " ‘Man, don’t buy into all the noise that’s out there and all these predictions. Don’t listen to that.’

"Because it’s all the same noise in a positive way that we were getting negatively when we were 1-6 last year: ‘We weren’t good enough. Your coach sucks. He doesn’t know what he’s doing. The quarterback can’t.’ We have to block that stuff out. That’s not reality. The reality is not what they’re saying now, and the reality wasn’t what they were saying when we were 1-6. We’re in the gray, man. Just live in the moment."

Even so, the moment may not be fully appreciated without the context of the past. Especially for the long-suffering fans. No, the current Lions players had nothing to do with the “Millen Man March” in 2005, when fans protested and called for the firing of then-GM Matt Millen. None of them were born in 1958, when the “Curse of Bobby Layne” is said to have begun. They weren’t around after the great Barry Sanders retired following the 1998 season and the franchise posted one winning season over the next 12 years – a stretch that included 10 consecutive losing seasons and an embarrassing 0-16 finish in 2008.

"Let’s change the narrative," Campbell said. "That’s the challenge of it all. Let’s start our own legacy."

Campbell, beginning his third season on his first head-coaching job, gets it from another perspective. He was here for that infamous 2008 campaign. He saw it with his own eyes and felt it with his own bumps and bruises. A former tight end who played 11 seasons in the NFL, Campbell spent three injury-marred years with the Lions after joining the team as a free agent in 2006.

"You heard it from afar, over and over: Detroit, they just cannot win," Campbell said. "It’s dysfunctional. The heartbreak. They finally get into the playoffs, then bad luck. The Bobby Layne Curse."

Campbell still came as a free agent, hoping that things could turn around under coach Rod Marinelli and new offensive coordinator Mike Martz.

"I wanted to be on the team that changed the whole narrative," Campbell said. "Well, it didn’t work out. But actually being here in the community, you got a good handle on what it was like. But I also know this: That first game out here in 2006, we played Seattle and the place was booming. You could tell the fans here were dying for a winner. That always stuck with me.

"So, the thought of being able to come back as a coach to change the whole narrative, I felt like we need to embrace this."

Like his coach, veteran receiver Marvin Jones Jr. is also back in Detroit for a second tour of duty. Jones played five seasons with the Lions from 2016-20. He, too, can vouch for the passion of the fans. Yet he also senses a difference when considering this sudden status on the NFL relevance map.

"It tells you that we are noticed," Jones said. "It’s exciting to be in that type of light. Yeah, we want everybody to see who we are, and see what we see out here on the practice field every day. We just have to go out and do what we can do."

In other words, it’s about time to prove what the fuss is all about.