Good News: One thunderous celebration in Detroit marked the end of 32 years Player….
There was a primal roar, it was visceral, it was generational. It seemed like it couldn’t get any louder, yet it did, and it didn’t seem to go away, even though it probably could. It reverberated through Ford Field’s lights and reverberated through TV sets across the country.
The roar was loud. It was loud enough for over 66,000 of the Detroit Lions’ fans inside the city centre’s covered stadium. The millions of others in the bars, the watch parties in the living rooms, and even by themselves pacing in fear aren’t included in that number. At least, not until coach Dan Campbell signaled for victory formation, with the score tied at 24-24 and the Rams 23-23.
It was more than that, though, because it was the kind of roar that some had been waiting 32 seasons to hear, while others had given up hope it would ever happen. It was a roar that had come from so many lost years and so many missed opportunities; missed opportunities for what they were finally experiencing. So many times over the decades Detroit had not even seemed to have an NFL team in the first place. They hadn’t made it to the playoffs since 1991, hadn’t played in one since 1993, hadn’t won a single playoff game since 1957. They’d had winless seasons, Millen man marches, and silly moments like when a player was cut and stole his replacement’s luggage or when an assistant coach got arrested for being naked in a Wendy’s drive-through.
The Lions were a punchless punchline, a repeating punchline in a city desperate to be seen as what it is now, not as what it used to be.
All this time, Lions fans had to sit back and watch other people in other cities, even expansion teams and bandwagon fans, enjoy professional football.
The magic of those January nights, those playoff runs, galvanizes communities. It transcends the city and the suburbs, the boss and the employee, the race and the religion and the politics.
They make new acquaintances and send texts to old ones. They provide individuals who moved away a feeling of belonging. They put parents and children together in front of the same television, regardless of age.
That was nearly never the case in Detroit. It seems like they solely discussed the draft for the following year.
So on Sunday, from the pregame “Jared Goff” shouts to the third-down explosions to the last frenzy that they almost couldn’t believe, these supporters simply seemed to become louder and louder, deafening and then more deafening after that.
The Lions’ only official accomplishment was to make it to the NFC divisional round. They’ll host either Philadelphia or Tampa Bay next Sunday. This would only be the beginning in other settings, and it was also the feeling in the Lions locker room, which was rather formal.
Safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson declared, “We’re ready to keep it rolling.”
On the other hand, it was different out in the streets and in the stands. Perhaps they will be so happy one day. Not quite yet, though. This, this was a place to be, a dream that was no longer postponed.
Yes, they were disappointed and may be much more so the next week, but there were tears in the stadium when Goff, the Rams’ cut-off player, struck fourth-round pick Amon-Ra St. Brown for 11 yards and the game-winning first down.
Hugs, too. Stepping out. Nearly no one remained even after the late Sunday night minutes passed and the clock ran out. Traffic be damned, they’d waited half a lifetime to get to stay and soak it up.
To be heard was also a part of this. The announcement that Detroit and the Lions were here was too loud to ignore.
They had to endure hearing the national media ignore their team, their 12-win campaign, their chances of winning the Super Bowl, and their rising stars only this past week. Rather, the focus was on the other quarterback, Matthew Stafford, a former Lion who had requested and been allowed a trade to Los Angeles in order to compete in the Super Bowl.
Is Stafford capable of defeating Detroit again? Could Stafford end the season for the Lions? Maybe, just maybe, Stafford, Stafford, Stafford
Goff remarked of hearing the theme of the game all week, “I just kept going back to it.” It was focused on us. It was not their concern. It was about our coaches, this group, and the 53 people in this locker room winning a playoff game for the home audience.
On Sunday, Goff finished 22 of 27 throws for 277 yards and a touchdown. After his offence scored on its first three possessions, the Rams were forced to play catch-up. Although Stafford was a fierce competitor, the Lions’ defence prevented him from making plays when he was required to. In the second half, L.A. managed just six points.
“All three phases,” Campbell continued to say. “You win playoff games that way.”
That’s how playoff games are won. in Detroit. Who was aware? a well-rounded offensive. A defence fit for the red zone. A 54-yard field goal.
A boisterous, yelling audience that was impossible to quiet, releasing decades’ worth of repressed rage, joy, and anger all at once.
It made a lot of noise. As it ought to have been.
