Five days after the Detroit Lions ended their season in New Orleans with a first round playoff loss I still don’t know what to make of it. As my anger subsides I am left feeling a little stunned. Did that just happen? Wait a second, 10 and 6?

I don’t know what to make of it.

Perhaps after more than a decade of ineptitude, Lions fans have forgotten how a competitive NFL franchise functions. After years of draft busts, blowout losses, record setting winless seasons and that man who will not be named, fans have been left destitute.

This feeling is almost uncomfortable; all the things we wanted so much are here now. Wins, nationally televised games, ESPN coverage, and our own highlight reels – not Chicago or Green Bay’s. Yes, we finally have respect. And now, I’m not sure we know what to do with it.

It is such an alien feeling to be winners and to have a 23-year-old, 5,000-yard quarterback. Not even the most overzealous fan would dare to dream of the season that Stafford just had. I’m sure it won’t be too long before Stafford gets a haircut and signs onto some national advertising campaign gracing a brand with his youth and elite play. Soon Stafford will have his own following with fans around the country wearing the jersey but never knowing what his play has meant to not only the franchise but to a city.

It is refreshing though to walk through the local Meijer and see folks walking around in Lions gear. It’s funny how I only realize now that I see the Lions swag everywhere just how non-existent it was for nearly a decade.

What am I supposed to be doing right now? Am I really considering keeping a Lions receiver not named Calvin Johnson in my Fantasy Football league?

The same Calvin Johnson, who as recently as this past summer was not considered elite by the great Cris Carter has earned national respect. He is no longer an overachiever on a horrible team. Johnson’s performance this season has left him in a class of his own. Johnson is finally getting the attention he has deserved his entire career.

I am used to researching the draft and watching all the tape I can of the top ten picks. Studying so that I can know the stats and records of the players the Lions are targeting. The ability to wring hope out of Lions teams featuring players such as Joey Harrington, and Charles Rogers and coaches like Bobby Ross and Marty Mornhinwheg is a skill unique to Detroit.

No longer will the best part of the Lions season come from December to August, when time is spent building a team on paper and repeatedly going over the schedule predicting the wins and losses. My approach must change now that we will be drafting at the end of the first round.

I will spend this offseason crunching numbers and evaluating “contracts versus age and performance” to prepare myself for the offseason debates. Standouts such as Cliff Avrill and Stephen Tulloch will be coveted free agents this year. What will it be like to watch our good players get drawn away from us for top dollar contracts? Members of our coaching staff will be moving on as well. Not to the unemployment line, or to lesser jobs elsewhere, but around the NFL climbing the coaching ladder.

Did that just happen? 10 and 6?

I don’t know what to make of it. But while I figure it out…I’ll be smiling and waiting for next year.

Joseph can be reached at josephpa@umflint.edu