On Being A Lions Fan
Detroit is a blue-collar city. Our teams are vaunted for their work ethic. Perseverance. Grit. Anything that models the community it represents. Football, in general, speaks to a lot of our values and history. Inch-by-inch clawing, scraping, grinding for every potential yard. Deflecting attacks. Detroit vs Everybody. Football was made for places like Detroit, Cleveland, and Green Bay. Unfortunately, as is with most teams, our hopes are left in the hands of our players. And Lions fans have seen some consistency.
You could have read the ending to this book at the beginning of the season. It’s the same story every year: the Detroit Lions will. find. a. way. to lose (i.e. The Calvin Johnson Rule, Pass Interference in the Playoffs, 2015–16’s NFL Highlight of the Year, etc). We’ve somehow managed to come up with new ways to lose a football game. Last night’s game against the Green Bay Packers was the coalescence of the Lions’ seasonal process of trying to make losing entertaining over the course of 16 games.
My parents got us tickets for that final game of the regular season v the Packers. The powers that be in the league office granted the Lions an opportunity to play their most important game since Ford Field opened (2002) a prime-time/nationally-broadcasted TV spot. One team would walk away as the Division Champions, which the Lions haven’t accomplished since 1993.
Longest Division Droughts:
1. Cleveland Browns, 1989, 28 years
2. Detroit Lions, 1993, 24 yearsLongest Conference Droughts:
1. Detroit Lions, 1957, 60 years
4. Cleveland Browns, 1969, 48 yearsLongest Championship Droughts:
1. Arizona Cardinals, 1947, 70 years
2. Detroit Lions, 1957, 60 years
6. Cleveland Browns, 1964, 53 years
^all pre-date the Superbowl, started in 1967
It is completely safe to say that I was excited for the game last night. The first Facebook post I’d write after the game would be a triumphant, “WE WON THE DIVISION! WE WON THE DIVISION! [crying emoji][crying emoji][crying emoji].” I’d hug my mom and dad and scream as loud as I could in an arena filled with extended family members. With the Cubs and the World Series, all of this seemed possible. The Lions had even given me something to hope for this season with 7 comeback victories in their first 11 games and held the lead in the division into late-December.
Ultimately, it was not to be. The defibrillator stalled. In truth, the division could have been won weeks ago; however, we limped into the game with two straight losses, and the Packers came in winning the last five. Our quarterback, Matthew Stafford, had torn ligaments in his middle finger (I tried lending him two middle fingers during the game to no avail) and Aaron Rodgers had put the whole Bachelorette/family drama thing well behind him. I don’t know. I should’ve checked myself harder at the gate.
But all I needed was this one. Screw the playoffs. Lions fans know where their team stacks up against other playoff teams.
Lions lost 31–24 against the Packers. Defense couldn’t make a stop and a rally-killing field goal miss by the otherwise reliable Prater all but sealed the deal early on. It’s a hard loss to stomach compounded by the issue that the loss came against the Packers. Now, I know some wonderful Packers fans, but I look at it the same way as people who root for the Yankees or whatever team LeBron is playing for. It’s popular to like the Packers.
Being a Lions fan is a form of masochism. It‘s not a choice that people make willingly. My family would get a pizza and “watch the Lions lose” every game day. This was definitively how fandom was sold to me as a child. You support your team no matter what bad draft choice they make, or misleading staffing decision, or other Lions branded gestalt.
I’ve made the comparison to the Cleveland Browns a few times already. I don’t hate you, Browns. I empathize with you. I really do. Who else could do this but Lions fans? We were actually rooting for you to win this entire season. You don’t understand that we actually love and revel in our 0–16 season. It may be one of our few accomplishments outside of Barry Sanders and the Thanksgiving day game (which we’re entitled to). So, how about a little reverence, huh? I get it’s Detroit vs Cleveland but you realize the stakes are exceedingly low and there are cheap shots.
I sat in the stands of our homefield, surrounded by cheeseheads, in the most important game of the last few decades, just as Aaron Rodgers converted on yet another 3rd down in the 4th quarter, listening to the chant, “Go Pack Go” overtake “Let’s Go Lions,” and it was the worst feeling I had ever felt as a fan in my entire life. There is no such thing as a bandwagon Lions fan, only embarrassed ones.
I will watch the game on Saturday versus the Seahawks and cheer them on, as I did last night, until the very end believing there’s hope. That’s who we are as Lions fans. We are Detroit. We may be haunted by our losses but we will always keep moving forward. Keep scratching for that next step. One day, maybe next year, we’ll get there.