DETROIT – Most fans around the NFL can’t truly understand what Detroit Lions fans have been through over the years.
It’s not just that the Lions have never been to a Super Bowl, or that they’ve never won the NFC North Division, or even that they have one playoff win in 66 years. It’s more so the way they break everyone’s hearts in new and creative ways every season.
Maybe this is just their latest trick: dangle a Super Bowl contender in front of our faces for a few months and then rip it all away.
That’s what the Same Old Lions would do. But those Lions are gone.
It’s hard for many fans to accept. They’ve been hoodwinked so many times, and the end result is always more heartbreak. But if we’re being honest, the jilted fan who’s emotionally invested in the team probably doesn’t have the most objective evaluation.
Which leads me to an elevator ride I had with two Kansas City Chiefs fans this weekend in Minneapolis. I was in town for the Michigan vs. Minnesota game, and the Chiefs played the Vikings the next day. The city was swarming with Maize and Blue and Red and Gold.
When I got into the elevator one morning, I saw the two fans decked out in Chiefs gear.
“Taylor Swift fans?” I asked. They humored me and we talked about their upcoming game against the Vikings. They weren’t worried (and it turns out they had no reason to be).
They asked where I was from, and when I told them Detroit, their eyes widened.
“You guys have a really good team this year. We saw it in person.”
Woah. That sure sounded strange.
It was a simple compliment, but one I realized I had never heard about the Lions before. Usually, when football fans hear that you’re from Detroit, they look at you with pity and say something like, “Well Calvin Johnson was really good” or, “I always root for you against the Packers.”
But there I was, talking to two fans who not only saw the Lions live last month, but also spent the last calendar year watching exactly what a Super Bowl team looks like. In fact, the Chiefs have been the most consistently elite franchise in the sport since Patrick Mahomes took over as the starting quarterback.
If any fan base knows what a good team looks like, it should be Chiefs fans.
The Lions have done enough on the field to prove they’re legit, but it’s hard to forgive all the betrayal from over the years -- the Aaron Rodgers Hail Mary... Jim Schwartz challenging an un-challenge-able play... Johnson’s very first “complete the process” non-catch.
But those Chiefs fans were just another reminder to forget about the past and focus on what actually matters: This version of the Lions looks like one of the best teams in the league, and the rest of the world has noticed.
Six decades of scars don’t heal in five weeks, but if diehard fans of the defending Super Bowl champs are saying the Lions have a really good team, I’m inclined to listen.
I bet Falcons, Packers, and Panthers fans think so, too.