DETROIT – Sports are supposed to be fun, but Saturday was a reminder that sometimes, they’re actually cruel.
Not that we need to be reminded here in Detroit. I’m haunted to this day by two World Series losses, the Robert Horry shot, the overturned pass interference call in Dallas, the “trouble with the snap” Michigan-Michigan State game, the 2016 Michigan-Ohio State ending, Trey Burke’s block against Louisville, and so much more.
Recommended Videos
But the end of this Lions season feels different. Even more powerful than the surprise and disappointment is the jarring realization that it’s all just... over.
It was so sudden. From Super Bowl expectations to the offseason. All in the span of a few hours.
Nobody in Detroit expected to be writing their 2024 season eulogy today. This Lions team was so dominant, unstoppable -- there was an air of invincibility to this group.
There were so many times this season when the Lions should have crumbled. It began with the season-ending injury to Aidan Hutchinson and never relented, snatching Alim McNeill and Alex Anzalone and Carlton Davis and Malcolm Rodriguez and Amik Robertson in its dark grasp.
Yet, somehow, the Lions kept winning. They blew past their previous franchise record for wins. They held a 14-win Vikings team to three measly field goals in the biggest game of the season. They fended off furious pushes in the race for the No. 1 seed.
Even when the Lions didn’t play well, they found ways to win. The Texans are still trying to figure out how they lost that Sunday night home game back in November. Green Bay and Chicago didn’t get close to Detroit’s best punch but still left Ford Field in shambles.
The Lions felt inevitable. That’s the best way I can put it.
We all knew that Washington was a very capable, very dangerous team. But it just felt like the Lions would find a way. Because that’s all they did for four months.
But not this time. And this time was the one that mattered.
I’ve always said the NCAA Tournament is the cruelest stage in sports. Take Purdue’s 2022-23 team, for example. The Boilermakers battled for four months to earn the No. 1 overall seed, scratching and clawing their way through the best conference in college hoops to the tune of a 29-5 record.
Then, all it took was one cold shooting night to watch all that work evaporate -- against a team that got blasted by its only power conference opponent during the regular season, no less.
The Commanders are no Fairleigh Dickinson, but the nature of this Lions defeat feels the same.
Even though the Lions went 15-2, they never got a break. They had to keep winning and winning all the way through the final game of the season to earn the No. 1 seed. Then, finally, in Week 18, their hard work paid off.
And the next time we saw them, they were unrecognizable.
I think that will be the hardest pill to swallow. When we saw these Lions at full strength, they were a sight to behold. And even in their broken and battered state, they were the favorite to win it all.
But on Saturday, they were uncharacteristically feeble and mistake-prone. Jared Goff, Mr. Reliable, whose name has echoed through every Detroit sports venue in the past year, coughed the ball up four times. Aaron Glenn’s defense, which has found a way to get the job done no matter the adversity, had no sacks, no turnovers, and forced only one punt.
The miserable segment of the fan base that thrives on negativity will try to tell you this was “Same Old Lions.” But this wasn’t SOL. This was a championship-caliber team no-showing at the absolute worst time. And I would argue that’s even worse.
This Lions team won the hearts of the entire fan base. It was so fun watching them beat Matthew Stafford (again), and put the Cowboys in their place, and end the Seattle curse, and sweep all three division rivals, and come back against Houston, and avenge the San Francisco loss.
But when you give a team your heart, you give them the power to break it. And that (along with sub-zero wind chills) is why fans across the state found it a little harder to roll out of bed this Monday morning.
Last season, Dan Campbell said the NFC title game loss was so devastating because you never know if another opportunity will come around. This is exactly what he meant.
The Lions were objectively better this season on both sides of the ball, and they were set up perfectly in the postseason, with the path running through Ford Field.
But it still wasn’t enough. You just never know in the NFL.
The Lions are still going to be a really good team in the coming years. Pretty much all of their young talent is under contract. But that’s no guarantee. The 2024 season could go down as the best chance the Lions ever had to reach a Super Bowl.
Ben Johnson and Aaron Glenn will probably get head coaching jobs, and that creates plenty of uncertainty for the future. The Lions are going to have to make difficult decisions on players like Kerby Joseph, Brian Branch, and Sam LaPorta in the next two years.
I think the Lions absolutely have the right leadership in place to maintain their culture and withstand those losses. Campbell and Brad Holmes are two of the best in the game.
Today isn’t a day for sugarcoating, though. Nothing about the future is promised. The Lions were two home games away from the Super Bowl, and that opportunity might never present itself again.
When training camp rolls around, we’ll start all over again. The Lions will be one of the most talented teams in the league, and they’ll probably be among the Super Bowl favorites.
Until then, fans have to Grit their teeth and live with the pain of knowing they wasted this bite at the apple. Another year with Amon-Ra St. Brown, Penei Sewell, Aidan Hutchinson, and Jahmyr Gibbs has passed without the ultimate prize.
There will be more opportunities. But maybe not like this one.
