If you told a Detroit Lions fan just a few years ago, that in 2024 they would be one win away from a Super Bowl appearance, they would first probably be very excited, but they also may not believe you. The Lions are the only team in the conference championship games that did not make the playoffs last season.
The No. 3 Lions will take on the No. 1 San Francisco 49ers at Levi's Stadium in the NFC Championship. The Niners had a Super Wild Card Weekend bye and defeated the No. 7 Green Bay Packers in the divisional round to advance.
1. The city of Detroit
Detroit deserves this. Before this season, Lions fans had not experienced a playoff win in 32 years. That's a very long time. The wild-card game against the Los Angeles Rams was their first home playoff win since 1991. The fans have certainly been patient.
The Lions' win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers marked the first time in 67 years that the Lions won two playoff games in the same season. You have to go back to 1957 for the last time it happened.
Detroit has rallied around the Lions and have shown up in a major way for their team, creating loud environments at Ford Field and paying the most money for a wild card ticket since at least 2018.
They have celebrity fans showing up to each game to hype up the fans and the environment they've created is one that's hard to root against.
2. Dan Campbell
Head coach Dan Campbell is certainly a unique character, with some unique sound bites as well.
One of his more memorable quotes is, "We're gonna kick you in the teeth, and when you punch us back, we're gonna smile at you, and when you knock us down, we're going to get up, and on the way, we're going to bite a kneecap off."
And he has a lot more where that came from. His approach has won over the players and the fanbase and whatever he is doing is clearly working. Campbell is in just his third year as Detroit's head coach and what he has done with the team certainly deserves recognition and celebration.
His first season with the team was 2021, when the team went 3-13, was last in the division and had a -142 point differential. The next season, the team went 9-8, their first winning season since 2017 and came in second in the division. Now the team is just one win away from a Super Bowl appearance and this season had a +66 point differential.
3. Missing playoffs to NFC Championship
The rise of the Lions has been an exciting one to watch. Just two seasons ago, the Lions were last in their division, a spot they found themselves in every year from 2018 through 2021.
In 2021, they were 3-13-1 and just two seasons later in 2023 they finished 12-5 as NFC North winners. This was their first divisional title as members of the NFC North and their last division win was in 1993, when they were crowned NFC Central champs. The Lions hadn't had a 12-win season since 1991, which was also their last playoff game before 2023.
Less than two decades ago the Lions had a winless season and to be on the verge of a Super Bowl is an incredible turnaround.
Their turnaround has been both surprising and riveting to watch. It's hard not to root for a team that was in the trenches just a few years ago and has now found themselves in the conference championship.
