D-LIRIOUS!!!

For the better part of the last 60 years it could be said that the “D” in Detroit football stood for  Depression, Desperation, and Doubt.  But yesterday’s miracle comeback win in Dallas has removed all doubt—the 4-0 Detroit Lions are FOR REAL.

There certainly was plenty of doubt permeating the local Detroit sports watering hole where I met several of my fellow long-suffering, yet hopeful Lions fan buddies as well as my blogging nemesis PV who was, of course, unabashedly decked out in all his Cowboy regalia.  The first half had Pete celebrating like it was 1993 as Dallas could to do no wrong, stifling the Lions offense and shredding their defense to head to the locker room with a seemingly insurmountable 20-3 lead.

Trailing by 24 with 10:30 remaining in the 3rd quarter after punting for the 6th time against a potential playoff team in the massive House that Jerry Built, there was little reason to think the game was salvageable. Things were so bleak that one of our crew even decided to bail. BIG MISTAKE, JON.

Detroit’s dormant defense suddenly stepped up with two pick-sixes that finally gave almost everyone in the bar (besides a suddenly silenced PV) something to cheer about. The defensive assault sparked the offense to 17 unanswered points in the 4th quarter culminatied in the biggest road comeback in team history and sent the bar into honolulu blue hysteria.

But the historical significance of yesterday’s victory doesn’t end there.  Check out these incredible factoids:

• According to Elias Sports Bureau, the Lions are only the 4th road team in NFL history to come back to win from a 24-pt deficit.
• The Lions are the first team in NFL history to register 20+-pt comebacks in consecutive weeks.
• Dating back to last season, the Lions have their first 8-game win streak since 1953-54.
• This is the first 4-0 start in Lions history that includes 3 road wins.
• The 4-0 start is their first since 1980 and only the fifth in team history.
• Their current 5-game road wining streak is the longest in team history.

When put in this perspective, despite all the years of disappointment, it’s hard not to get excited about this team. Any doubt has now turned into delirium in Detroit where sights are set on the very ordinary Chicago Bears (2-2) for the Lions first Monday Night Football appearance in a decade.  Ford Field will be as loud as it’s been since the 2009 NCAA Final Four as the Lions go for their first 5-0 start since 1956.