Three Playoffs Thoughts: Buccaneers at Lions
Three straight second half touchdowns push Detroit all the way to NFC Title Game.
Three Thoughts, as usual, is a tribute to the late, great Grant Wahl. Here I offer you about 1,000 words or so on a very entertaining NFC Divisional Round Game in Detroit.
The Detroit Lions have ended their endlessly-long drought with two playoff wins in eight days after just one postseason victory in 65 years. Their 31-23 win against Tampa Bay secures their spot for the first time since 1991 in the NFC Championship game.
These are my three thoughts:
– The Detroit Lions have now won two playoff games on consecutive weekends and look like a team that will have to be dealt with for years to come. This means that Dan Campbell is forever a legend there and I couldn’t be prouder.
I know, I know. Bob goes on and on about Dan Campbell in Detroit. When will he stop? Well, I am sure it will probably happen at some point, but for now, when I am endlessly proud of what this guy has been able to do up there and what that means to them, I just start gushing again.
I think we all understand that there are different standards in every city and with every franchise. There is something about the person who goes to a franchise that can't get anything right for decade after decade that is special. Often, what is interesting about that is those franchises cannot get the top-end candidates to take their jobs. Coaches with more leverage go to where the mountain is less daunting and the mission is a little more possible. All of the coaches with full resumes and endless choices will go places where there are inherent advantages in place.
Then there is Detroit.
They have hired guys without that many choices over and over again. It might be an impossible place to win, but I remember the conversation from the offseason he was hired that basically said what we all knew: If someone could ever turn them around, he could be the king of Detroit.