Lions' Caldwell: We're not chasing the Packers

The Green Bay Packers have won four straight NFC North titles, but Detroit Lions coach Jim Caldwell couldn't bring himself to admit that his team is chasing the Packers when asked about the division at the NFL owners meetings last week.

"It's a new year," Caldwell said. "It's a new year. Everything changes."

The Packers and Lions split their season series last year, but Green Bay won a Week 17 showdown at Lambeau Field to clinch the division and earn a first-round playoff bye.

The Packers return the bulk of the roster that went 12-4 and reached the NFC championship game last year, re-signing their two biggest free agents, Randall Cobb and Brian Bulaga, at discount prices. The Lions, meanwhile, lost all-pro defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh, replaced him with Haloti Ngata and are in the process of retooling their offensive line.

On paper, it appears that the Packers have held their ground while the Lions have taken a step back, but Caldwell cautioned, "I don't think you can determine a whole lot during this time of year."

"I just don't think it's wise," he said. "It's not prudent to try and make some sort of a determination at this time of year. We have to see when we get out on the field. Now, for us, like I said, it's a process. It's a process. We got work to do. We've got a lot of work to do, and it's not only Green Bay but every team within our division and every single team that we face. It's a battle. It's hard to win one game, so we got to get ready. This time of year, leading up to it, our preparation, our work ethic, our habits, all those things have to come through."

The NFL season doesn't kick off for more than five months, and the Lions still plan to supplement their roster through the draft and free agency.

Though they haven't won a division title in 22 years, they have the best division record of NFC North teams over the last two seasons -- 9-3, compared with Green Bay's 8-3-1 -- and Caldwell said it's a good omen that the Lions never have been more than a game out of first place in that span.

"You play golf?" Caldwell asked. "It's like if you get on the green in regulation, which is kind of how I want to make that analogy, that if you keep putting, you may not make it every time, but at some point in time, you keep giving yourself opportunities and one's going to fall. And so that's what we have to keep doing is getting ourselves in position in regulation, and at some point in time, we got to keep getting ourselves to the point where we're better, we're performing better and something good will happen for us."

Contact Dave Birkett at dbirkett@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @davebirkett.