Just like that, the season ends.

I’ve been a Detroit sports fan all my life. Well, minus the Lions. It wasn’t that they were bad, it was because they were lifeless. But we’ll get into that later. I started becoming a Lions fan 4 years ago when the GM changed and the coach changed and Sheila Ford made me a believer. When the owner changes, and the Front Office follows, that indescribable warmth of hope finds a place in you, even if the first 2 years weren’t great. It helps when the new coach has a little madman in him.

See, I don’t like teams that feel like they don’t want to win. When name value or money or status gets in the way. In the way of the people on the ground, in the trenches, sweating and bleeding for the love of the game. Really, bleeding for their lives. Nothing but the journey to greatness whether it’s on ice or grass. I was turned off by everyone above the players for the Lions for my whole life. It just didn’t feel genuine.

MCDC has made it feel genuine. It isn’t necessarily even about the success we’ve seen these past 2 years. It’s about the message, the feel of grit and drive that radiates through every single person involved all the way up to Sheila. Have you not seen the reaction to the Gibbs pick? Have you not felt that fire in you when Dan Campbell is up there talking about biting off kneecaps? Are you not entertained?? This stuff is real. This stuff is worth hoping for.

Which brings me to this season. Back to back NFC North champions. A roster with 7 players, 7, named to the Pro Bowl. That doesn’t include the massive 11 alternates also named for the Pro Bowl. Jahmyr Gibbs, the 3rd RB in franchise history to be named, finished with 1,929 total scrimmage yards (only 2 guys were ahead of Gibbs, and I think you can name both) and a wild 16 rushing TDs (tied for 1st in the league) and 4 receiving TDs which was good for 20 total touchdowns and sole ownership of 1st place. Amon Ra St. Brown who finished with 1,263 yards and 12 TDs was named for the Pro Bowl for the third time. That’s three in a row, by the way. Penei Sewell (3rd straight year in a row also and was not credited with allowing a sack this season), Frank Ragnow, Brian Branch (just his second pro season) and Jack Fox (holds the highest gross punting avg in NFL history) round out the rest. They all deserve their own paragraphs but I think you get my point.

Now this next guy deserves his own paragraph. Mr. Good enough for Detroit Jared Goff finished with a whopping 4,629 yards, 37 PTDs. Goff did some things this season you might not realize. Let’s start with this one, Goff becomes the only player in NFL history to complete over 72% of his passes and throw for over 4,500 yards in a season. Goff also went off for a 9 game stretch with a 75% completion percentage passing Tom Brady for sole possession of that record. Goff became the first QB in NFL history to complete a game without a single incompletion (min. 11 pass attempts) finishing 18 for 18 for 292 yards against the Seattle Seahawks. That’s 2 broken records and one that has stood for 85 years. It is also the most pass attempts ever without an incompletion in an NFL game. Goff also has 2 of the NFL’s 7 games ever to have 400 yards, 4 TDs and a perfect passer rating picking one up this season against the Jacksonville Jaguars. Let’s rapid fire these last ones- highest completion % in NFL history over a 6 game stretch, highest passer rating in NFL history over a 6 game stretch, the only player in NFL history to complete 80% of passes in 3 straight games and this man came extremely close to breaking the record for the highest single season completion percentage. Whew. Now that was a lot, maybe I lost ya. You there? Goff is.

There’s some talk online about moving on from Goff. How his bad game cost us a season, how he can’t take a team to the big game, but I don’t think so. Our defense was stitched together with sewing needles and scotch tape and the injuries could not be sustained. We drew the hottest round one QB and a team that had some serious momentum. A couple big plays later and they are moving on to the NFC Championship.

These 7 players doesn’t include an eighth, which it probably should, as Kerry Joeseph led the league in INTs with 9. 9 picks, doesn’t get named (there’s got to be a classic Lions snub in there somewhere). This is all to say was this season, and how it ended, miraculous? or was it maddening?

The loss after a bye week is maddening. The five turnovers were maddening. The decision to not call a timeout to avoid 12 men on the field was maddening. Jayden Daniels having probably the best QB rookie season we’ve ever seen is maddening, even if he did almost bring me a fantasy championship. But I digress. The 15-2 record is miraculous. Goff breaking record after record after record is miraculous. Penei Sewell’s pre game speeches are miraculous. This is the beginning of something, and I don’t think the window is closing. I don’t think Goff should be moved on from, despite the internet saying otherwise. This is one of those you wish you knew you were in the good ole days before you actually left them moments. And I think maybe, just maybe, a three-peat on being NFC North Champions through grit might just be miraculous as well.