It’s not clear why anyone would waste time cheering for one of the worst franchises in NFL history. But I’ve done it.
In 2008, when I was 3 years old, the Detroit Lions made history.
They did something only two teams in the NFL have ever done. They played all 16 games in a season and didn’t win a single one.
Sometimes they lost spectacularly.
The Lions’ biggest loss in 2008 was a 42-7 blowout by the New Orleans Saints. A game where NFL Hall of Famer Drew Brees completed 30 of his 40 passes, threw for 351 yards, and threw two touchdowns.
The next year, the Lions went 2-14 and missed the playoffs for the ninth year in a row.
Hearing facts like that makes me wonder why my Dad and I ever decided to stick with the Lions for so long.
My dad, who was born in 1968, has been a Lions fan since he started watching football. He tells me he picked the Lions because his dad cheered for them. My dad witnessed one of the greatest running backs of all time, Barry Sanders, retire early because of the organization’s incompetence to build around him. And after Sanders’ retirement, my Dad withstood a 32-year-long playoff win drought.
When I ask the reasons for his loyalty, why he stuck by a team that has brought him nothing but heartbreak, he just tells me: “They’re my team.”
This is a sentiment that a lot of sports fans share. As Ringer CEO and former ESPN columnist, Bill Simmons once wrote in a column called “Rules for being a true sports fan,” “Once you choose a team, you’re stuck with that team for the rest of your life.”
On its face, this explanation doesn’t seem great. We are given a limited amount of time on Earth; why waste that time rooting for the Cleveland Browns, the Washington Wizards, the Seattle Mariners, or even the Detroit Lions?
Yet I guess it’s the only way to explain why I’m still a Lions fan.
I’m from Greenville, Wis., which is 30 minutes away from Green Bay, the home of a much more successful and storied football team. But the Packers played in Green Bay, and through my youth, I couldn’t bring myself to root for them. I think I loathed them for their success. When I was about 6, I watched all my friends celebrate a Super Bowl led by their golden boy — four-time NFL MVP Aaron Rodgers, who in 2012 had a whole day dedicated to him in my first-grade classroom. The date was 12/12/12. (His jersey number was 12.)
But I picked the Lions as my team back then, and I’ve stuck with them. Maybe one reason is that they’re my Dad’s team. Rooting for the Lions gives me an opportunity to bond with him, something to talk about.
There is also a deeper reason I’ve stuck with this losing team. Doing so gives me a feeling I don’t get when I root for a good one. I anticipate a loss, which makes every win feel like a gift. When every loss is expected, there’s no disappointment.
There is also a higher emotional payoff when a losing team finally gets it together. My favorite memory of the Lions isn’t the 15-win season in 2024 or the near Super Bowl appearance in 2023. It’s the final game of the 2022 season, which they began with a 1-6 record. But over their next nine games, the Lions won seven. And their last game of the season was against the Green Bay Packers. Aaron Rodgers was still playing for the Packers in that season. As it turns out, it would be his 18th and last as a Packer, but I didn’t know that. I still hated him and the Packers. All the Packers had to do was win the last game of the season against the Lions in order to make the playoffs.
National media experts overwhelmingly picked the Packers to beat the Lions.
And after a gritty game, there were about four minutes left in the fourth quarter. The score was 20-16. The Lions had the lead, and the Packers had the ball. I was scared.
Aaron Rodgers is known for crazy clutch plays and impossible Hail Mary throws. I knew this game wouldn’t be over until the clock struck zero.
But with about three minutes and 35 seconds left, Rodgers threw the ball far up the field. It soared in the air for about four seconds, and at three minutes and 31 seconds, Lions DB Kerby Joseph (who wears jersey number 31) intercepted the pass and ran out of bounds. The Lions got the ball back and ran out the clock. The Lions won, finishing the season with a total of nine wins and 8 losses.
Watching the Lions’ postgame celebration is one of the only memories I have of my Dad smiling while watching football.
If the Lions didn’t already have my heart before that game, they definitely won it after. Not only did they have their first positive record since 2017, but they also beat their division rival and embarrassed Aaron Rodgers.
This year, the Lions look like they’re getting ready for another disappointing season. I suppose I could look for another team to support. But it wouldn’t feel right. There’s always a chance they get it together again.
Besides, they’re my team.