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Letter from the Editor Dear Reader, COVID is spoiling a lot of holidays this year, including Thanksgiving. But let's talk about the original and perennial destroyer of the day meant for gratitude: The Detroit Lions.
I'm a lifelong fan, and this year like every other year I'm glued to the TV with a beverage in my hand and hope in my heart. Hope, but not a lot of optimism.
Sure, the Lions enter the game 4-6, which passes for a typical season for a team that hasn’t won an NFL championship since 1957. But over the past two seasons they set an NFL record by losing six straight games they led by double digits. They lost 11 straight games at home before finally hanging on for a win two weeks ago. They haven’t won an NFC North game in two years.
And last Sunday, they got beat 20-0 by a last-place team starting a quarterback seeing his first NFL action.
Kyle Meinke has been MLive’s lead Lions beat writer since 2013. He’s seen a lot of bad, as well as a stretch under head coach Jim Caldwell when the Lions had winning records in three of four seasons. (Of course, that was foreign to team tradition and culture, so Caldwell got fired and here we are).
“It's interesting to me how everyone ... besides Patriots fans has their heart broken, eventually,” Meinke said. “But what separates the Lions is – it never stops.”
It seems to hurt more on Thanksgiving. You all have a personal story of the holiday soured by the Lions, I’m sure. Here’s mine:
It’s 1980, and I’m home from college. Mom’s dinner is ready to be served at the end of the Lions game. They lead the Chicago Bears 17-3, but of course it’s the Lions, and the Bears tie the game on the final play of regulation. I leave my Dad in the living room to go tell my Mom in the kitchen that dinner will be held up by an overtime period. Moments later there is torrent of profane shouting, and I come back into the living room just in time to see the Bears score a touchdown on the overtime kickoff – at the time, the shortest overtime in NFL history.
That was not a cheerful Thanksgiving dinner. Praise the Lord, pass the Alka Seltzer.
I’ve had people say to me, “Why suffer? Just root for a different team!” True fans know that is not an option. It’s a birthright, it’s an emotional attachment and it’s a burden we all carry. We have the D burned into our souls.
The Red Wings have won four championships since I was born; the Pistons three; the Tigers two. The Lions should be due, right?
Meinke even notes that of all pro sports leagues, the NFL has the most parity due to salary caps and the talent-heavy draft choices available to poor teams. So far, that hasn’t mattered: Billy Sims, Barry Sanders, Calvin Johnson, Matt Stafford – no rings.
“It is a problem that defies all mathematics, and logic. I mean, it’s pro sports and it’s a four-team division,” Meinke said. “And yet the Lions, every single year, are some degree of mediocre, and they haven't won a division title since ’93. It's the longest drought in the NFL.”
Perhaps that changes this year; perhaps coach Matt Patricia and the Ford family will be vindicated and the pumpkin pie will taste extra sweet.
Perhaps Lucy will finally let Charlie Brown kick the football. But if it was to win the game for the Lions, it would probably miss wide right. # # #
🎧 To hear my conversation with Kyle Meinke about what went wrong under the Patricia regime, the future of the Thanksgiving game hosted by the Lions, and what life has been like for a traveling sportswriter in the COVID era, click here. To hear all the stories behind the stories, click here and subscribe to our Behind the Headlines podcast.
Editor's note: I value your feedback to my columns, story tips and your suggestions on how to improve our coverage. Let me know how MLive helps you, and how we can do better. Please feel free to reach out by emailing me at editor@mlive.com.
John Hiner Executive Editor Vice President of Content Mlive Media Group
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