Among my various interests is a love of American football. It’s a game of strategy where everything matters from the off-season to the game. I also like football because it’s 17 regular season games that happen once a week, so it’s less of a commitment than sports like hockey or baseball, which have what feels like thousands of games in a season. And typically, at the end of the regular season, I’m done with football until the Big Game. That’s because I am a lifelong Detroit Lions fan, and they have never been good in my lifetime.
Sure, there was a time in the early 90s when Barry Sanders lit up the field. But that didn’t last. And there were a few times in the 20-teens when Matthew Stafford and Calvin Johnson took center stage, but we could never seal the deal then either. But it all changed this year in the 90th season of the Detroit Lions. We found ourselves in the playoffs with a winning record, not just by accident. We won our division and our first playoff game since 1992. And I am too excited not to write down my thoughts and feelings about this seemingly once-in-a-lifetime experience. Let’s discuss what’s been going on.
Decades of Disappointment
The Detroit Lions are one of the oldest teams in the country. They predate the NFL, and all their championship wins are from before the Super Bowl era. For reference, the last time they won a championship game in 1957, my 84-year-old mother graduated from high school.
These decades of disappointment may have started with a quarterback named Bobby Layne, who reportedly cursed the Lions. He was traded in 1958, just after their last championship victory, and he supposedly said the team wouldn’t win again. That felt true for a long time, but now, after 65 years and a winning record, we can say the curse was officially broken.
I won’t go into a timeline of the last 90 years of Detroit Lions history, but you can check it out here.
Big Changes for the Lions
The last three years have seen significant changes for the Lions both in the office and on the field. Our former owner, William Clay Ford, passed away in 2014, leaving behind a legacy of losing and some terrible general manager and coaching decisions. His wife, Martha Firestone Ford, took over for a few years but then handed the reins to her daughter, Sheila Ford Hamp. Shelia hired our current GM and coach, who have made enormous culture changes in Detroit. Brad Holmes is the first GM I’ve seen in my lifetime who is excited about building this team and not just making vanity choices. And then there’s Dan Campbell.
A Ted Lasso-Style Coach
Dan Cambell is a coach so singular that he’s worth his own section in this post. When he took over the team, all the fans thought it might be the Same Ol’ Lions (SOL, as we say). His first season ended with a 3-13-1 record. That 1 was a tie. And the next year, they started rocky. They won a few games but lost a lot in a row. But they came back at the end of the year and ended up with a 9-8 record. But right out of the gate this year, they lit it up and maintained a winning record of 12-5, making them one of the best teams in the entire league.
Part of the reason for this is what Campbell himself calls “Grit,” which has become a rallying point for the team. He makes creative play calls that fans gripe about when they are about to happen, but often turn into successes. I noted in his first season that he was coaching a lot like fictional soccer coach Ted Lasso, and I still think that’s an apt comparison.
I Bleed Honolulu Blue
I moved away from Detroit 23 years ago, but one of the things that kept me connected to my hometown was the Detroit Lions. We always made time to see their games, whether we attended with the Lions Fan Club of Atlanta or watched in our neighbor’s basement here in Asheville. We often travel to see games on the road, including Minneapolis, New Orleans, and London. I used to half-joke that if the Lions ever won the Super Bowl, I would get a tattoo to commemorate it. It didn’t seem like a reality until recently. For the record, I did get my first non-Lions tattoo last year, so now it doesn’t seem so far-fetched, and I already have the design created to have ready when I need it.
Last Minute Addendum
I wrote this blog post last week. So I knew there would be an update when I scheduled it to publish today, and I would either be excited or disappointed. So here it is:
The Detroit Lions won the divisional round of the playoffs against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. It was a challenging game and too close for too long, but we pulled it off at the end in a way that the Lions often do – with a last-minute interception. Detroit is heading for the NFC Championship Game in San Francisco against the 49ers. If they win that game, we’ll be in the Super Bowl for the first time in Detroit Lions History. The last time we won a national championship game was before the Super Bowl era.
That was a heart attack of a game, and it’s only 6:50pm as I write this, but I am ready to put on my pajamas and go to bed. It’s been such a crazy day.
The one is for all the believers.
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