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The Super Bowl era began in 1966. In the 50 years since, every football season has culminated with a postseason tournament, replete with opportunities for championship glory.
The Detroit Lions have been eligible to participate in these festivities every winter. Usually they choose not to take part. This year, they did just enough to sneak in. Whether that stay is anything more than a one-night affair we'll find out on Saturday.
Historically, the Lions trip and fall when the stakes are highest. Either the defense can’t get a stop (2011: New Orleans, 45 points scored) or it’s freezing cold and Barry Sanders can’t gain a single inch (1994: Green Bay, Barry rushes 13 times for -1 yard). With the Lions in the playoffs, it’s always something.
Well, almost always. There was that one day.
Best Day in Franchise History
There are many reasons to be considered lucky as a kid. Maybe you lived in a great, big house with an outdoor tennis court and a video game system hooked up in every room. Or maybe you were some kind of boy genius, never studying for a single minute and still getting every paper back with a giant “100%” branded across the top of the page. Me? My best friend’s dad had season tickets to the Lions, meaning I was often included in the Pontiac party. Life didn’t get much better.
On this particular Sunday -- Jan. 5, 1992 -- I paced anxiously in the front hall waiting for my ride. During the drive to the Silverdome, Brad and I chatted breathlessly about that day’s opponent, the Dallas Cowboys.
We were barely eight years old, but that didn’t stop us from analyzing the upcoming divisional playoff matchup like a couple of NFL lifers. Close your eyes tight enough and you’d have thought it was Halas and Lombardi in the back of that ’89 Chrysler Minivan.
We got to the ‘Dome shortly before game time and took our seats around the 35-yard-line, a dozen rows into the upper deck. While others dashed to the concessions, we relaxed, knowing Brad’s old man supplied the goods: a big package of Twizzlers smuggled in for all to share. Nowadays, they’d have patted him down and discarded the twisty red contraband in half a second. But the world was a little more innocent 25 years ago and the Twizzlers survived the journey.
As kickoff approached, a fight broke out three sections over. Back then, it was like the Silverdome’s own personal version of the Star Spangled Banner. Okay, the fight’s outta the way...let’s get this show on the road! Dad got set up with his portable radio and earphones (a true mark of an old-school fan) and the game began.
Little did any of us know, we were about to witness something that had never been done before and would never be seen again.
Kramer Goes Bananas
The 4 p.m. start had the ‘Dome whipped into a frenzy and things only got better from there. Erik Kramer, a journeyman 27-year-old castoff from the CFL, produced a stat line worthy of its own bust in Canton: 29 for 38 passing, 341 yards, and 3 touchdowns. Willie Green caught everything thrown his way, as did his partner-in-crime, a rangy first-year wideout going by the name of Herman Moore.
The Lions defense, historically passive and without a prominent fang, came out of the tunnel salivating and thirsting for blood. They harassed Steve Beuerlein (voted hardest name to spell in football history) and Troy Aikman the entire afternoon, producing four turnovers and keeping the Cowboys from ever reaching the end zone.
Jimmy Johnson was a former national champion in college and a future two-time Super Bowl winner in the pros, but on this most magical of days, it would be the cartoonish Wayne Fontes taking his bath in a tub of lemon-lime Gatorade. When all was said and done, the Lions had posted 38 points to the Cowboys measly six.
It remains the only playoff victory in Detroit Lions franchise history.
Pinnacle of Football Fandom
The ride going home from the game was never quite filled with the same pep or punch as the trip there. For young kids today, a 45-minute drive might feel like nothing. Break out the iPad, fire up a DVD on the overhead screen, and before you know it, the garage is opening and you’re right back where you started. That wasn’t the case in ’92.
We were exhausted from cheering. Traffic was never-ending. Brad eventually nodded off in the seat next to me. I stared blankly out the window, the beginnings of a headache coming on courtesy of the endless loop of news reports piping out from WJR. Newsradio to a grade-schooler is the equivalent of heavy metal to an octogenarian.
But that night, we fought through the fatigue. It was a time to rejoice, to celebrate, to revel in our Lions finally coming through when it counted. We crammed into a booth at Mr. B’s in West Bloomfield and recounted all of the afternoon’s highlights. For us Lions fans, this seemed like the first day of the rest of our lives.
The NFC title game was in a week. Barry Sanders, the game’s elite ball-carrier, was a spritely 23, another decade of brilliance just waiting to break free into the open field. Erik Kramer, who at one time was a replacement player for the Falcons during the 1987 strike, had finally found his foothold in the league. Ray Crockett, George Jamison, and the rest of the Lions defense was was just hitting its stride.
Now that the first domino had fallen, the sky was the limit. More playoff triumphs were sure to follow, and with a break or two, maybe even a parade down Woodward.
That was the plan, anyway.
It’s been 25 years since that glorious day at the Silverdome. The second postseason win is still just a dream.
That can all change on Saturday night in Seattle, but by no means will the game be easy. In fact, the Seahawks are a terrifying 9 and 0 in their last nine home playoff games. A Lions win would land on the Upset Scale somewhere between USA-USSR in Lake Placid and the time Rick Moranis coached a couple dozen misfits to victory over a borderline NFL team in "Little Giants."
Let’s leave the last word to Coach Danny O’Shea (Moranis) from that oft-forgotten, but wildly underrated 1994 sports comedy classic.
“Wait a second, guys. Who ever said you had to be good to play football? You play football ‘cuz you want to. You play football ‘cuz it’s fun. You play football so you can go out there and pretend that you’re Joe Montana throwing a touchdown pass or Emmitt Smith going for a long run. And even if those Cowboys are better than you guys, even if they beat you 99 times out of 100, that still leaves...”
One time.
