Saturday night marks the beginning of the Detroit Lions 2024-25 playoffs when they face the Washington Commanders.

While the Upper Peninsula is evenly divided on the Packers-Lions rivalry, the Pack’s elimination to Philadelphia last week leaves just one Yooper-beloved team standing.

It is no secret to anyone who has paid attention over the past half century that the Detroit Lions have been the laughing stock of not only the NFL, but of American sports in general. There is quite possibly no franchise who has had it worse than the Lions since the Eisenhower administration.

The Lions last championship season took place all the way back in 1957, four years after the first color TV broadcast and 10 years before the first Super Bowl.

After the 1957 NFL Championship, the LIons wouldn’t win another playoff game until 1991, which would subsequently be their final playoff win until last year. In between those two playoff wins, decades of mediocrity at best and comic failure at worst (0-16 anyone?) led Lions fans to believe that they were cursed.

That all changed in 2021 when the Lions hired former player Dan Campbell. Despite some early struggles, Campbell changed the culture of the franchise from lovable losers to gritty contenders. During that time, the Lions traded team legend Matthew Stafford to the Rams for draft picks and the contract of failed first-overall draft pick Jared Goff.

While Stafford took the Rams to the promised land by winning the Super Bowl, Goff’s career was completely reborn in Detroit, marking one of the extremely rare win-win trades in sports.

Goff mirrors the story of the Lions in many ways, once widely considered a failed QB that nobody wanted, he has now turned into one of Detroit’s most beloved figures and a cult hero who has his named chanted at events throughout Michigan.

Lions fans will remember the disappointment of last year’s NFC Championship game all too well, when the Lions blew a considerable first half lead against the San Francisco 49ers to watch their chance at Super Bowl glory disappear. Those same Lions fans will also tell you that the pain and disappiointment they felt was all too familiar to those who have cheered for the Lions for years.

It is too early to know whether this Lions playoff run will end in heartbreak again or if this could really be the year where the unthinkable happens: the Lions win the Super Bowl.

Either way, there has never been a better chance for Lions fans to feel the ultimate thrill and whether you’re a diehard Lions fan or a disappointed Packers fan, the boys from Detroit are must-watch-TV.