DETROIT – Maybe this is reallythe time.
Just like last year, the Detroit Lions are in the mix as a leading contender to claim a Super Bowl berth. The fever is back at peak levels. Restaurants are again offering Lions specials. Lions-inspired ice sculptures are the rage again. A Lions-themed drone light show is back by popular demand. Tickets on the resale market for the NFC divisional playoff matchup against the Washington Commanders at Ford Field on Saturday night have soared through the roof.
Amon-Ra St. Brown, the All-Pro receiver, has dyed his hair Honolulu Blue again.
It’s no wonder that Dan Campbell, Lions coach, tone-setter and cult figure, acknowledged, “We feel the love.”
Yeah, civic pride is flowing. Even law enforcement can’t resist. The Detroit Police Department and Oakland County Sheriff’s Office are allowing officers to wear Lions beanies and baseball caps with their uniforms.
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What a special time, again, for the long-suffering fan base.
Does it matter how it ended last year? Perhaps only to a degree.
The last time the Lions were in a playoff game, they were that close to seizing the first Super Bowl berth in the franchise’s history. But they blew a 17-point lead at San Francisco and wound up on the wrong end of the biggest comeback – or collapse, if you will – in NFC championship game history.
Sorry, Detroit. For all of the excitement of the last playoff run it culminated with Jan. 28, 2024 becoming a day of infamy in your sports history. Kind of like Lucy snatching away the football as Charlie Brown whiffed on the kick.
Sure, there’s no need to dwell on that heartbreak from the past. And the resilient Lions have certainly bounced back strong. They won a Lions-record 15 games and earned the No. 1 seed in the NFC playoffs for the first time in franchise history.
Ford Field, the domed downtown stadium, will be so raucous for yet another primetime showcase (8 p.m. ET, Fox).
Still, even with so much in front of them – and the fever in full force again – there’s a reason for the Lions not to forget the past.
“Yeah, I’ll tell you this: I don’t think anybody in that room, myself included, has forgotten that feeling of flying back on that airplane from San Francisco,” Ben Johnson, the Lions offensive coordinator, said this week.
It was a somber, cross-country flight that didn’t arrive in Detroit until 7 a.m. on Monday.
“Tough flight,” Sam LaPorta, the star tight end, told USA TODAY Sports. “Long. I was trying to sleep, but of course, a thousand things were running through my brain.”
Campbell’s postgame message to his team, which he shared with the media, is also worth mentioning about now. He told the team that it might have been their only shot at getting to the Super Bowl.
“Do I think that? No,” Campbell said after the setback. ‘Do I believe that? No. But I know how hard it is to get here. I’m well-aware, and it’s going to be twice as hard to get back to this point next year. That’s the reality.”
Well, next year is here. It sure hasn’t been easy, yet the Lions are one victory from reaching the NFC title game again. And this time, having clinched home-field advantage throughout the playoffs, the Lions wouldn’t have to get on any airplane. And you know what could come after that.
Campbell’s point that night at Levi’s Stadium, though, still resonates. While processing the anguish of a colossal meltdown, it provided the perfect context in setting a course for turning the page.
And it’s worth noting that the 49ers didn’t even make the playoffs this season, which illuminated Campbell’s point about the difficulty of repeating a deep playoff run as each NFL season takes on its own set of twists and challenges.
Dan Skipper, the veteran offensive tackle, still recalls his coach’s message.
“That’s real. There’s a lot of guys who play for a long time who never get this far, never get back,” Skipper told USA TODAY Sports. “So, to get an opportunity to get back to the playoffs, that’s a big deal in itself. Obviously, our first playoff game being Saturday night, it’s a big deal. We go out and win it, and we can worry about the following week, the following week. Right now, it’s win this one in front of us. That’s something we’ve homed in on this year. See the big picture, but the focus is right here.”
Getting back to the playoffs – and in a better position as the top seed, which came with a bye week – took another layer of the grit that Campbell has trumpeted since he arrived in 2021 and aligned with general manager Brad Holmes.
The Lions still possess the NFL’s most prolific offense, which fueled their league-high 564 points (33.2 per game). Yet the resolve of the defense, coordinated by rising star Aaron Glenn, in the face of significant injury losses has been one of the league’s most riveting storylines this season. Detroit has an NFL-high 16 players on injured reserve, including key defensive linemen Aidan Hutchinson, Alim McNeill, Marcus Davenport and Kyle Peko, and star cornerback Carlton Davis.
And they’re still here. Talk about resilience.
Apparently, the Lions didn’t leave their heart in San Francisco. Now the pain of that last playoff setback is something to draw on.
A redeeming lesson?
“I don’t know if there’s anything redeeming other than…they made plays and we also did not make plays,” Campbell said, when asked about it – again – this week. “I just think there’s something about being in that moment, in that space, going through it with the core group of guys that you have. So, I think more than anything it’s the experience of it.”
An experience they surely don’t want to repeat. It’s about the urgency.
“You have to finish the game,” Skipper said. “You have to play a whole game. Develop that killer instinct. That matters.”
Especially if this is really the Lions’ time.
Follow USA TODAY Sports’ Jarrett Bell on X @JarrettBell.