30 Years Later

It was 1993 and that was the last time the Detroit Lions won a division title. RB Barry Sanders was in the prime of his career at that time. Fast forward to today and the Lions have won the NFC North with their win against the Minnesota Vikings. Even with the game being closer than it should have been, Detroit had a balanced approach. They intercepted four passes on defense and gained almost 400 yards on offense. When the calendar turns to January of 2024, the Lions will be hosting a playoff game at Ford Field for the first time in the stadiums existence. The only thing up in the air is who their opponent will be.

Playing Like It’s 2013

Let me take you back to the 2013 playoffs. QB Joe Flacco had one of the most insane playoff runs in NFL history. He was playing for the Baltimore Ravens and proceeded to beat the Indianapolis Colts, Denver Broncos and New England Patriots to win the AFC. Then the Ravens defeated the San Francisco 49ers in the Super Bowl with Flacco earning the MVP award. His playoff stats were off the charts. He threw for 1,140 yards, 11 touchdowns and not a single interception. Now with Flacco being signed by the Cleveland Browns mid-season with the amount of injuries at the quarterback position, he’s reminding folks of that 2013 playoff run. The biggest difference is the interceptions he has thrown are quite high (7 so far). Yet, the Browns have now won their last three games with Flacco as the starter. His first start was a loss on the road to the Los Angeles Rams almost a month ago. Even in that loss he played well throwing two touchdown passes. He followed that up with three, two and three more touchdown passes this past Sunday against Houston. Cleveland is in the driver seat to clinch a playoff spot in the AFC. Most Browns fans will be hoping that Flacco has another Super Bowl run in him like he did for their arch rivals in Baltimore.

This Team Won The Super Bowl Last Year?

Even if the Las Vegas Raiders defense didn’t return two turnovers for touchdowns, the Kansas City Chiefs could have still lost this game. The Chiefs offense was awful. More dropped passes, QB Patrick Mahomes not having the timing down with receivers on their routes and to make matters worse the offensive line was outplayed all day. Mahomes was sacked four times, but was under duress just about the whole game. Credit to the Raiders defense for putting the pedal to the metal in Kansas City. The Chiefs defense played to their status as the only saving grace for their season. The unfortunate thing is that they couldn’t stop the run as the Raiders backup RB Zamir White had a career game rushing for 145 yards and averaging 6.6 yards per carry. That’s right, they were without their starter Josh Jacobs going into this Christmas Day matchup. To make matters worse for the Chiefs, Raiders QB Aidan O’Connell didn’t complete a damn pass for three quarters of this game. He completed 9 passes on 21 attempts and not a single completion came in the second, third or fourth quarters. How the hell did the Raiders win this game? I was watching it and I still don’t understand how it happened. If I hadn’t watched a single football game until this one on Christmas Day and you told me that the Chiefs won the Super Bowl last year, I would have started laughing uncontrollable. Hell, I’m laughing about it right now. Kansas City has yet to win the AFC West, let alone clinch a playoff spot as a result of this loss. They should be clinching a playoff spot with Cincinnati at home and the Chargers in Los Angeles being their last two opponents. I get the feeling though that don’t deserve it with the way they’ve played this season.