Lions fans hope it'll feel good, anyways. The two games I'm most looking forward to on the Lions' schedule next year are a trip to San Francisco and a home game against Jacksonville. Why? Because those teams now employee ex-Lions coordinators Mike Martz and Donnie Henderson.

Everyone knows about Martz, the deposed offensive coordinator who took the same job with the 49ers earlier this month. Martz had some choice words about several of former players upon his departure — most notably, left tackle Jeff Backus — and though his frustration in Detroit was more with Matt Millen than Rod Marinelli, there's no doubt he'll want to put it on his former team next year.

Henderson, according to several reports, has resurfaced in Jacksonville after spending a year away from coaching. Henderson served as Marinelli's defensive coordinator two seasons ago and the two parted mutually after that year. Henderson was not a Tampa 2 guy and never quite meshed with Marinelli's teachings. He doesn't share the same bad blood as Martz, but he's a prideful competitor nonetheless and no doubt will have that game circled on his calendar.

Henderson's role is to be determined with the Jags, though the Jacksonville Times-Union reports that he will likely be secondary coach, not defensive coordinator.

Times and dates for these games won't be set until the spring, but I'll take an early guess and say the Lions-49ers game will be the season opener. The NFL loves early-season hooks — last year, the Lions and Raiders picked 1-2 in the draft and met in Week 1 — and that'd be the juiciest on either team's schedule.