A solid decade of losing – most of it spent in the NFC North cellar – is over as far as Ndamukong Suh is concerned.

Finished.

The defensive tackle, who was a major force winning rookie of the year honors in 2010, is convinced the franchise has turned the corner to bigger and better things.

“This (season) is an opportunity for us to move on and have other expectations,” Suh told the Detroit Free Press. “I think the biggest thing for us and the city is that the mind-set is changed. We are not the same old Lions that have lost.”

But Suh acknowledges the deep rut the franchise endured, one when the Lions were positioned near the top of the draft on an annual basis. They just couldn’t make any moves to stem the tide.

"I don't really know what it was to go through that and I don't want to go through that because over the many years I'm going to be playing here -- and hopefully that's a very long time and beyond -- and the many, many contracts, I don't want that mind-set," Suh said. "I want to build the mind-set that we are a winning organization, and if we aren't, we are on the way to it, because last year we weren't a winning organization and this year we need to be and more.

"The game of football, especially in the NFL, is all about situation and coming out on the big end of the stick and not coming out on the short end of that stick. There's no question our expectations need to be higher."

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Brad Biggs covers the Bears for the Chicago Tribune