Rebuilding Rob

Something 30 years in the making is about to happen in Detroit this weekend.

For the first time since 1993, Detroit Lions are going to host a playoff game. This is, as Joe Biden would say, a BFD in the Detroit area.

The Detroit Lions, for those who don’t know, have never been to, let alone, won a Super Bowl. In fact, the Lions are the oldest of the 4 NFL franchises never to do so. The Lions won several NFL title in the 30s and 50s; but for some reason, anything that predates the Super Bowl is ancient history in the NFL.

In order to understand the significance of this weekend playoff game, one needs to know the history of the Lions franchise. William Clay Ford completed his acquisition of the team the day after the Kennedy assassination in 1963. As of Ford’s death in 2014, the team won a total of 1 playoff game. That win came when the Lions had the greatest running back who ever lived on their roster. Go ahead and look up “Barry Sanders highlights” on YouTube. He’s better than you remember!

Since the early retirement of Barry Sanders, the Lions have attempted one unsuccessful rebuild after another. As great of a human being as William Clay Ford was, its been said that he didn’t have the same business drive as his grandfather, Henry Ford. That much was evident in the Lions’ on-field struggles. The team would hit rock-bottom in the 2008-2009 season when they became the first team to go 0-16 in NFL history.

After Ford’s death, control of the Lions was passed to his wife Martha and eventually their daughter Sheila. It’s been said that they consulted with the NFL to hire new front-office personnel, a new coaching staff, new scouts and ultimately a new team. A solid plan to rebuild the Lions in earnest was underway.

Part of this rebuild included trading starting quarterback Matthew Stafford to the Los Angeles Rams. The Lions would receive Rams quarterback Jared Goff and several draft picks in the deal. While the Lions were planning for the future, the Rams saw Stafford as the final piece need to win a Super Bowl. The Rams would win Super bowl 56 in 2022.

Meanwhile, the Lions have definitely become the darlings of the NFL over the last 18 months. The team was featured on the Hard Knocks: Training Camp series in the fall of 2022. After starting that season at 1-6, the Lions would go on to win 8 of their remain 10 games – a run that concluded with spoiling the Green Bay Packers playoff aspirations in the final game of the regular season.

If there isn’t enough human interest already built into this story, this weekend, Stafford returns for the first playoff game to be held at Detroit’s Ford Field. Taken by the Lions as the overall number 1 pick in the 2009 NFL, Stafford was believed to be a keystone piece of the rebuilt Detroit Lions. As the story continues to unfold, Stafford may ultimately play a more indirect part in this endeavor. 

I don’t believe that this current Lions teams is Super Bowl-ready. Yet. But given all the storylines leading into this weekend, Sunday’s game is certain to be the biggest Lions game in decades.  Can the Lions defeat their once-anointed Golden Boy and erase decades of frustration and incompetence? Or will this Sunday be another chapter in the saga that local media has dubbed “the Same Old Lions” (SOL)?

Thanks for stopping by Rebuilding Rob. Be sure to like, comment and subscribe to my blog below. It’s greatly appreciated! Also, feel free to follow me on social media as well! Check out my most recent posts as well as some earlier related posts:

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• A Death in the Family (And My Disposable Income): My Life in Comics
• The Supporting Cast: Navigating the Eras of Male Friendship
• Life is What Happens: A Look Back at My Non-Existent 2025 Vision
• The Moment I Walked Inside a Hallmark Movie

The article “Wither, Same Old Lions?” first appeared on Rebuilding Rob