Rise of Lions And Detroit Should Give All Of America Hope That A Renaissance Is Possible
The stands at Ford Field were full and the place was still loud nearly 30 minutes after the Detroit Lions beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to earn a trip to the NFC Championship Game next weekend.
And maybe that doesn't sound unusual but, remember, this is Detroit. This is where the decline of a team and decline of a city and possibly the decline of the country have been on full and concurrent display for some time now.
But look at that team now.
Look at the town now.
Look at something that can give all of us hope for America.
DETROIT, MI - JANUARY 21: Jared Goff #16 of the Detroit Lions celebrates while walking into the tunnel after an NFL divisional round playoff football game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Ford Field on January 21, 2024 in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo by Kevin Sabitus/Getty Images)
Lions Victory Sends Them To NFC Title Game
The Lions are back and their hometown Detroit fans are right there with them. They were all soaking in Sunday's 31-23 victory over Tampa Bay as quarterback Jared Goff, on fire in the second half in leading three consecutive touchdown drives, waved on his way off the field.
Chants of "Jared, Jared, Jared" echoed in his ears.
"All the way up on the seventh floor you could hear the chants," former Lions great Lomas Brown said on the team's in-house postgame show.
Goff, who has had himself a season, had himself a day. He completed 30 of 43 passes for 287 yards and 2 touchdowns without an interception.
It wasn't easy. But it happened.
"I'm exhausted," Lions coach Dan Campbell said. "And I didn't even play."
DETROIT, MICHIGAN - JANUARY 21: Head coach Todd Bowles of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers speaks with head coach Dan Campbell of the Detroit Lions following the NFC Divisional Playoff game at Ford Field on January 21, 2024 in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo by Nic Antaya/Getty Images)
Lions Roster Embodies America
Goff kneeled on the final series of this final game in Detroit this season. And the appreciation was palpable as players hugged, and a red-faced Campbell tried to control his emotions.
"Here we are sitting as one of the last four teams," Campbell said of the NFL playoff's survivors. "That's the type of game I envisioned...
"We delivered body blows and ultimately we did what we had to do to win that game. There's nothing easy about it. To be able to win in the playoffs and do what we did, that group of guys ... it speaks volumes for the type of guys we have and their character."
The Lions are a nasty, gritty, tough team. Kind of like their town. Maybe like our country in many respects.
Rugged.
Resilient.
Tenacious.
Clutch.
"We got guys like Frank battling back from injury to get back out there and help us win," Campbell said of his center, who had a knee rolled up in a pile not once but twice this game.
DETROIT, MICHIGAN - JANUARY 21: Aidan Hutchinson #97 of the Detroit Lions seen against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers during the third quarter of the NFC Divisional Playoff game at Ford Field on January 21, 2024 in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)
Lions Give Detroit Reasons To Celebrate
This day is a celebration in Detroit.
The Lions have given their once miserable, hapless, failure of a town, proof that hope doesn't have to be permanently fleeting. That a renaissance is possible.
You saw it on defensive lineman Aidan Hutchinson's face, eyes bleary as he held back tears, when he simply stood there on the field after this game was over. Hutchinson is from Plymouth, Michigan, about 27 miles northwest of Detroit.
He grew up understanding the misery of the team. And the town.
But that depression and desolation was nowhere to be found Saturday evening at Ford Field.
"It's amazing," Hutchinson said on national TV. "This city deserves it."
DETROIT, MICHIGAN - JANUARY 21: Amon-Ra St. Brown #14 of the Detroit Lions leaves the field following a victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the NFC Divisional Playoff game at Ford Field on January 21, 2024 in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)
Detroit And Lions Awake From Nightmare
The Lions are on the verge of winning something substantial for the first time since the 1950s. Since winning the old NFL Championship Game in 1957, they've been one of the worst franchises in sports.
They hadn't won a playoff game since 1991 before this postseason. They've never played in a Super Bowl.
Barry Sanders, perhaps the most dynamic running back in NFL history, got so tired of losing he retired at the age of 31 years old.
And, yes, that may feel like ancient history. But you must recall the Lions were a joke only a couple of years ago.
Remember that in January of 2021 the Lions traded quarterback Matthew Stafford to the Los Angeles Rams. Stafford also had grown tired of playing for the Lions and mostly losing.
His record in a dozen seasons with the Lions was 74-90-1. And in his first year with the Rams, Stafford won the Super Bowl.
The Lions, meanwhile, lost their first eight games that year and finished a dismal 3-13-1. The storyline in some sectors in Campbell's first season was whether the team would become the first in NFL history to finish 0-17. Yes, some people wrote that.
"To each his own," Campbell said. "We're going to the NFC Championship Game with that group of guys. And they love football. They play football and that's what they respect. They respect their teammates and not anything else.
"When you're able to care more about the person next to you than yourself, you can do some pretty special things and that's where we're at with this group."
So it has been a journey for the Lions. It has been a trek up a mountain and it's a great example of what can happen for us all.
Because in the team's rise, I am seeing a city rise. And I see hope that says a renaissance is possible anywhere, even for an entire country.