For as long as I can remember, the Detroit Lions always disappointed their fans. This year was a different year for Michigan football. This was “our year.” Not for basketball, but it’s better to focus on how far our other sports have come.
With the Lions playing the best we have seen them play in years and the University of Michigan football winning a national championship, life was well, unless you are like me and cheer for the Ohio State Buckeyes.
Michigan football had a bumpy season. In the first three games, head coach Jim Harbaugh was suspended from coaching the team on the sidelines for recruitment allegations. Yet the team remained undefeated and Harbaugh returned to his team where they continued the season. This motivated the team to remain undefeated and make it to the playoffs.
With all the hardships that they had faced this season, they wanted to prove everyone wrong and they did just that by making it to the championship game. They not only won the championship game for the first time since 1997 but finished the season defeated.
Lion’s football, however, had a season that shocked the state of Michigan but shocked the country. Growing up in a football family, we would have the NFL every Sunday. It was nothing new to sit down on the couch and watch the Lions game with my dad. It was never surprising to me to watch them blow the lead they had or see them trailing by a lot. The Lions were never known to be great at football yet we were still die-hard fans of them.
When I asked my dad why we were still Lions fans, he would always tell me, “One year, it’s going to be our year. We’re going to be good and make it all the way and don’t you want to say that you have been rooting for them even when they were terrible?”
And so that was that.
This year was different. You could feel it in the preseason. The regular season started and it felt like I was watching a new team. These were not the Lions I had been watching since I was a little girl. They were winning games. A whole new sense of pride erupted in Detroit fans.
I was beyond shocked to find out that not only were we going to be playing in the playoffs, but we were going to be hosting the playoffs at home at Ford Field. With a record of 12-5, we were favored to win over the Los Angeles Rams. Playing former Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford would be no easy battle.
I won’t lie, I was a little skeptical if we were going to be able to pull off the winning. They managed to snake the win from Stafford, winning their first playoff game for the first time since 1991, and continued their journey to the Super Bowl.
One playoff win down, two more to go and we were there.
Then the following week we secured the win against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at home once again. For the first time in a while, the fans of the Lions had gotten the day they had been waiting for. One more playoff win and the Lions would be going to the Super Bowl. This was going to be our year.
And just like that it was over.
All it took was one game. Fans everywhere were devastated and some even cried, I know I did. I think the most upsetting fact about the game was that we were winning and that we blew the lead we had at halftime. For me, it would have been easier if it was just a blowout.
Despite the loss, many fans have hope for the next season of Lions football. I believe they will have another shot at the Super Bowl next year.
Until then, Michiganders get to sit in the glory that not only our college team won a national championship but that our NFL team made history for the first time. We had a good year of football. We should keep our focus on that instead of the history that the Detroit Pistons are making.